President Nana Akufo-Addo has described as alarming, the recent revelation by the Auditor-General that GHS5.4billion was approved as payment to contractors for either work not done or as double payment.

“The Auditor-General’s Report on MDA liabilities as of 31 December 2016, makes truly alarming reading. I make reference to the fact that a staggering amount of GH¢5.4 billion has been identified as constituting fictitious claims,” President Akufo-Addo said in his second State of the Nation Address to parliament on Thursday, 8 February.

“Every day, we hear reports on our radios and televisions of dilapidated classrooms, and children who sit on floors at school.

“Just think of the difference that GH¢5.4 billion would make to the nation’s finances. That would certainly be enough to build and furnish hundreds of classrooms, and construct the Eastern Corridor roads,” the president observed, adding: “Every citizen is affected by acts of corruption, and we should all work to tackle them”.

Government, he said, “has an obligation to treat the Auditor-General’s Report seriously, and to work to retrieve illegally acquired monies from those who would impoverish us all”.

The president said the need to fight corruption of such nature makes passage of the Special Prosecutor Act and his appointment of former Attorney General Mr Martin Amidu as the Special Prosecutor. The Act, he said, “is an essential step in our overall strategy to combat corruption.”

“I look forward to Parliament dealing speedily with the process of confirmation of the nominee, a person of proven professional ability, with an established record of integrity and independence of character. “There is enough goodwill in the country to propel the first occupant of this position into setting a good and firm foundation for the position of the Special Prosecutor,” Nana Akufo-Addo said.

He also applauded the role of OccupyGhana in “increasing awareness of the importance of the work of the Auditor-General.”