The prevailing weak internal audit regime in African can partly be blamed for the increasing rate of corruption on the continent.

This is according to Senior Minister Yaw Osafo Marfo.

He said this when he delivered the keynote address during the closing ceremony of the Fourth Annual Conference of the African Federation of Institutes of Internal Auditors (AFIIA) held in Accra.

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He said to resolve this, governments and other institutions on the continent must strengthen their internal audit systems. He added that this will help save the region huge sums of money that are lost due to corruption and bribery.

He also indicated that the internal auditors have a huge role to play in saving their governments and institutions some revenues. He said it was their mandate to protect the public purse or that of their various institutions.

“Good internal audit helps to save institutions a big sum of money through effective findings and diligence,” he said, adding that “practitioners are expected to function to safeguard and strengthen the scope of knowledge through quality counselling to management.”

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He called on auditors at large to desist from supporting corrupt practices when they uncover them.

He said many internal auditors on the continent have refused to present true findings of the investigations because they have either tribal, political, religious or any other form of affiliation with the culprits.

This he said must be stopped for the growth and development of the continent.