The Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has appealed to the Institute of Chartered Accountant Ghana (ICAG) to avail its expertise for the fight against corruption in the country.
According to him the role of accountants in dealing with corruption which had become a bane of the country’s development cannot be overemphasised and the Institute must show keen interest in this fight.
The Minister made the appeal when he inaugurated a 13-member governing council for the institute in Accra yesterday.
Members of the council are; President, Mr Augustine Addo, Vice President, Reverend Dr Cynthia Ayorkor Sallah; Mrs Patience Mawushie Dzikunoo Mr Thomas Kwesi Esso Dr Dr Frank Gbadago, Ms Frances Enyonam Sosoo and Mrs Belinda Dede Tandoh.
The other members are Mr Inusah Shiraz, Dr Nana David Annan-Bonny and Mr Paul Kwasi Agyeman with one more member yet to be nominated.
The Minister said as accountants, it was important that they saw themselves as stewards of the mandate that demanded transparency, accountability, and responsiveness.
“Your role will be to ensure that the accountancy profession is practised, reflecting best practices, and ensuring that decisions that are taken are objective, inclusive, and in the interest of the profession and the Ghanaian public,” he emphasised.
Mr Iddrisu said the role played by accountants remained at the heart of the success of any effort by government to combat corruption, stressing that “Accountants are at the heart of it. The linkages, the over-invoicing, and the under-invoicing can only be revealed and exposed by you.”
He said there was the need to strengthen the pillars of leadership, however, that could only begin at the governance level, stressing that “And it’s important that, in your case, integrity is not an optional value. It is at the hallmark of your career.”
On his part, Mr Addo said ICAG was a professional accountant organisation established by an Act of Parliament to regulate accountants in order to practise in Ghana.
He said the institute had credible men that could be supplied to nourish all governing Boards and Councils to be constituted by the government.
“Another point we want to emphasise is that the Institute of Chartered Accountants will continue to ensure that we will relate with the universities and other tertiary institutions to ensure smooth progression from academia to professional. Therefore, we are prepared to help you in drafting and developing all curricula relating to accountancy education in the country,” he said.
BY CLIFF EKUFUL
