“I am committed to protect the student purse .” These were the comments of Abdulai Saaka, the Chairman of the Audit Committee of the GIJ-SRC when he was appointed, and his actions as the Auditor of the SRC have obviously been consistent with his words so far.
Abdulai Saaka was appointed as the Chairman of the Audit Committee by the President of GIJ-SRC, Ishmael Nii Lante Lamptey in consultation with the General Assembly of the SRC. Having served as an active General Assembly member since his first year, there were no doubts about his experience and expertise in the affairs of the SRC.
However, there were fears that he would not be able to function effectively as the auditor of the SRC because many of his predecessors did not do much in that capacity.
Amazingly,Abdulai Saaka and his committee have led to the discovery of more than GHC50,000 in student money coffers that were taken from the SRC account without the approval of the General Assembly by the former administration.
The audit committee also issued a report in which several members of the former administration were named. Again, the committee has performed numerous audits of the current administration’s accounts and has already delivered one report to the General Assembly.
The Saaka-led committee is presently examining the SRC’s expenditures in the organizing of SRC Week Celebrations, Women’s Week Celebrations, and the SRC Shuttle.Prior to the Saaka-led Audit Committee, no Audit Committee had made it their mission to audit the accounts of the SRC during the tenure of an administration and audits were conducted just once at the end of an SRC administration. When Saaka took the mantle he argued that this convention did not help to adequately safeguard the student purse and he assured students that he would do things differently and he has remained true to his words so far.
The Saaka-led Audit Committee has shown so far that they are indeed poised to hold the SRC accountable for every pessewa spent out of the student’s confers. The committee has been exemplary and I believe the audit committees of other universities can learn a thing or two from them.
