The Ghana Audit Service has urged the public to report instances of mismanagement and anomalies directly to the Auditor-General. Mrs. Roberta Ntim, the Director of the Performance Audit Unit, said that this would help ensure the prudent use of public funds.
“We want you to know that the Auditor-General is especially interested in dealing with issues that citizens are concerned about,” she said. “Remaining silent on these problems only causes more harm. Report issues such as unfinished housing projects, road problems, infrastructure issues, or malfunctioning hospital equipment to the Auditor-General. We consider these concerns when planning our annual audit.”
This call to action was made during a stakeholder awareness event. Mrs. Ntim mentioned the introduction of the CitizensEye mobile application, which allows the public to report incidents of corruption directly to the Auditor-General.The event aimed to reinvigorate public interest in using the app to report anomalies. Representatives from various ministries, departments, and agencies attended the session.
The CitizensEye app was developed in collaboration with the German Development Corporation (GIZ) and other partners. It empowers citizens to report concerns, provide feedback on government policies, and share information about possible cases of mismanagement, fraud, abuse, waste, and other irregularities in public offices and institutions.
Mrs. Ntim noted that since its launch five years ago, the app has enabled the Audit Service to plan and prioritize its audits. “We have received various complaints from the public through the app over the past five years, leading to a number of audits,” she said. Most reports, she added, were related to infrastructure and primarily came from the Ashanti and Greater Accra regions.
While lamenting the decline in citizen reports over the past two years, Mrs. Ntim assured whistleblowers that their identities would be protected. “You become essentially anonymous using the application. You can report an issue without disclosing your identity. We have only two persons managing the information that comes to the back end, and we do not reveal identities.”
Mr. Jude Danbo, a technical officer at the Ghana Audit Service, mentioned that the organization is exploring ways to enhance the app’s security features and user experience. One such improvement is the inclusion of an audio function that would allow users to report issues via voice notes in local languages.
“We are working to improve the feedback method, enabling individuals to track concerns from the time they are reported until they are resolved,” Mr. Danbo said. “We are also simplifying the selection process for users, making it possible to type the name of an area and have it pinpointed on the Google map, rather than using a pin to determine where the issues are coming from.”
These improvements aim to make the reporting process more accessible and effective, ensuring that citizens’ concerns are addressed promptly and transparently.
