The Northern Development Authority has yesterday, swore into office a Five-member Entity Audit Committee.
The Board Chairman of the Northern Development Authority (NDA), Dr Abdulai Weimah urged the Committee members to be circumspect in their work since their operations and mandates have been clearly spelt out in the laws.
He said he was expecting that the Committee will guide the NDA to avoid the malfeasance and mistakes of earlier organizations who failed Northern Ghana’ development aspirations, in financial management.
The Board Chairman Dr Abdulai Weimah also cautioned Management of the NDA against financial malfeasance, stressing that government is very particular in fighting corruption hence management must be conscious of their dealings in the discharge of their duties.
Swearing in the 5-permanent members in front of the Board Chair and on behalf of the Director General of the Internal Audit Agency, Mr Nathan Yankey -Director of Operations stated that “the formation, membership, roles, reporting and responsibilities of the Audit Committee are patent under Sections 86 through 88 of the Public Financial Management (PFM) Act 921 of 2016 by which Act the Roles of the are categorised.”
He also indicated the need to support the internal Audit uni.
According to him, the Committee’s Mandatory Roles ensures the Head of Entity implements recommendations contained in Internal Audit Reports, Parliament’s decisions on Auditor General’s Report, Auditor General’s Management Letter and Reports of Monitoring Units.
On the Advisory Roles, he noted that “These comprise functions provided under paragraph 8.2 of the Guidelines issues by the Minister of Finance to promote Accountability and good corporate governance.”
He also indicted that there needs to be a Support for the Internal Audit Unit of the respective Entity with actions such as making and ensuring Internal Audit are adequately resourced, supporting Training, and championing quality assurance.
He concluded by noting the importance of the Audit Committee of the NDA and called for their support from the Governing Body, Management and all key stakeholders to enable them execute their statutory mandate.
On his part, the CEO of NDA, Dr Abdel Majeed Haroun reiterated their commitment to accomplishing the desire results and charged all stakeholders to put all hands on desk in commenting their efforts
He said: “Alone, we do little but together we can do more and better.”
He also expressed his satisfaction about the mental revolution of some of the youth and of the area, saying, a significant number of the youth are now Agricultural oriented and are willing to go into full time farming if they are empowered.
He earlier paid a working visit to some promising farms in the Northern regions and expressed his satisfaction for the ambitious initiatives being undertaken by these farms.
By PROSPER AGBENYEGA
