Good morning.
It is a pleasure to welcome you to this important engagement on the 2025 Auditor-General’s Reports.
The Auditor-General’s Reports are not merely documents that record financial irregularities. They are an important instrument for protecting public resources, strengthening public financial management, and ensuring that those entrusted with public funds are held accountable for their stewardship.
The 2025 Reports cover Ministries, Departments and Agencies; Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies; the District Assemblies Common Fund; Public Boards and State-Owned Enterprises; and Public Universities and Colleges of Education.
A SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION IN IRREGULARITIES
I am pleased to report that, taken together, financial irregularities across these five sectors declined from approximately GH¢20.72 billion in 2024 to GH¢7.69 billion in 2025.
This represents a reduction of approximately GH¢13.03 billion, or 62.9 percent. This is a significant achievement.
Government had set a target of achieving a 50 percent reduction in financial irregularities by 2025. The recorded reduction of 62.9 percent therefore exceeds that target by 12.9 percentage points.
This improvement demonstrates that when there is deliberate attention to public financial management, stronger controls, and greater accountability, measurable results can be achieved. There are several particularly encouraging developments.
Irregularities relating to the District Assemblies Common Fund declined by 39.6 percent. Public Universities and Colleges of Education recorded a 51.5 percent reduction, while Public Boards, Corporations and other Statutory Institutions recorded the most substantial decline of approximately 87.8 percent.
Within the education sector, recoverable irregularities in Public Universities declined by 35.2 percent, while those in Colleges of Education declined by an impressive 95.8 percent.
These figures are encouraging and demonstrate that progress is possible when institutions take financial controls and accountability seriously.
PROGRESS MUST NOT LEAD TO COMPLACENCY
However, let me emphasise that these improvements must not make us complacent.
Indeed, the overall figures conceal areas where the situation has deteriorated and where urgent action is required.
Ministries, Departments and Agencies recorded an increase in irregularities of 156.3 percent, while Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies recorded an increase of 125.6 percent.
These increases are unacceptable and demand immediate corrective action.
We must therefore look beyond the headline reduction and focus on the specific institutions, transactions and control weaknesses that continue to expose public resources to loss, misuse or abuse.
FROM IDENTIFYING IRREGULARITIES TO RECOVERING PUBLIC FUNDS
This brings me to the central purpose of today's engagement.
The theme, “Recovering Every Cedi,” captures a fundamental principle of this Government's approach to public financial management: identifying an irregularity is not the end of the process; recovery and accountability must follow.
For too long, audit findings have sometimes been treated as matters to be noted, discussed and eventually forgotten.
That approach must change.
Where the Auditor-General has identified amounts as recoverable, Government expects those monies to be recovered.
The detailed presentation at this engagement will identify the affected institutions, companies, individuals and responsible officers, as well as the amounts involved.
The responsibility for action, however, does not rest with the Auditor-General alone.
The respective Ministries, Departments, Agencies and other public institutions know the relevant transactions and parties involved. They must therefore take direct responsibility for initiating and pursuing recovery.
This means issuing demand notices where appropriate, following up outstanding debts, engaging responsible persons and institutions, and ensuring that recoverable amounts are paid back to the State within the required timelines.
ACCOUNTABILITY MUST BE TRACKED
We must also move from a system where recovery efforts are initiated but not systematically followed through.
Recovery will therefore be monitored.
Progress will be reported.
And where responsible institutions or officers fail to act on recoverable amounts, the appropriate accountability measures will be applied in accordance with the applicable public financial management laws.
Let me be very clear:
- Public money must be protected.
- Money due to the State must be recovered.
- Those responsible for the loss or misuse of public resources must be held accountable.
We will therefore strengthen monitoring, enforce accountability, address recurring weaknesses in internal controls and apply the appropriate sanctions where responsible officers fail to discharge their duties.
THE ROAD AHEAD
The 62.9 percent reduction in financial irregularities is encouraging. It demonstrates that progress is possible.
But our ambition must go beyond meeting targets.
Our ultimate objective is to build a public financial management system in which financial irregularities are the exception rather than the norm.
We must strengthen preventive controls so that irregularities are identified and addressed before they become financial losses.
We must improve institutional accountability so that every Chief Director, Head of Institution, Accountant, Finance Officer and responsible officer understands that public resources are held in trust for the Ghanaian people.
And where losses occur, we must ensure that every recoverable cedi is pursued.
This is what “Recovering Every Cedi” means.
It is about protecting the public purse.
It is about restoring confidence in our institutions.
It is about ensuring value for money in the use of public resources.
And ultimately, it is about building a culture of fiscal responsibility and accountability that supports the Government's broader efforts to restore discipline and efficiency in the management of the country's finances.
I therefore urge all Ministries, Departments, Agencies, MMDAs, State-Owned Enterprises and other public institutions represented here today to take the findings of the Auditor-General seriously and, more importantly, to act on them.
Let this engagement mark a decisive shift from audit findings to action, from action to recovery, and from recovery to stronger systems that prevent recurrence.
The Ghanaian taxpayer expects nothing less.
Thank you.
May God bless our homeland Ghana.
And may God bless the Republic of Ghana.