A leading member of the OccupyGhana movement, an anti-corruption group, has hit back at the Acting Auditor General (AG) with a gentle reminder that he is neither a god nor law onto himself.

A passionate Ace Ankomah who made a return to the Occupy Ghana platform, Wednesday, hinted the response by the Acting Auditor General to a petition they sent a week earlier, lacked depth and possibly an expert legal opinion.

The group had only last week petitioned the Auditor General to begin the processes in recovering all stolen monies or be sued in court.

He stated explicitly that by law, when a public official is deemed to have embezzled state funds, the Auditor General may conduct a disallowance, surcharge the person, certify the surcharge and recoup the monies in 60 days.

But he is convinced the processes outlined in the country's laws are not being followed despite the rising cases of corruption in Ghana.

He therefore charged the Auditor General to explain why no such steps had been taken except the usual empty threats issued in his annual reports.

But in a reply to Occupy Ghana, the acting Auditor General said his office is independent and cannot be controlled by anybody or institution.

He quoted religiously Article 187 (7) (a) of the Constitution, which states that the "Auditor General shall not be subject to the direction or control of any other person or authority in the performance of his function.”

He stated further “in the interest of accountability and public trust as well as the modern concepts of governance, this Office will carefully study your letter and proceed to provide you a response as a means of educating Occupy Ghana and the general public on …matters raised in your letter…”

That response has angered some members of OccupyGhana and Ace Ankomah minced no words in registering the movement's strongest protest to the acting AG.

The legal brain said to a crowd of anti-corruption campaigners, if the AG had been thorough in his response he would have known that while Article 187 (7)  (a) talks about his independence, 187 (8) made it emphatically clear that the President can instruct him (AG) to conduct audits on other cases.

"If your independence was absolute, subsection 8 would not have given the President the power to instruct you," he rebuffed.

He wondered why the acting AG jumped straight to quote article 187 when Article 23 stated emphatically clearly that the AG is either an Administrative body and official and "shall act fairly, reasonably and comply with the requirement imposed on them by law and persons aggrieved by the exercise of such acts and decisions shall have the right to seek redress in a court or other tribunals."

"And so Sir you might have the independence but it is the people of Ghana whose taxes pay you. You are duty bound to respond and if you do not respond we can go to court under article 23," Ace said with a touch of sarcasm.

Ace Ankomah lucidly recited Article 295 (8) stating that while the AG may be independent, the constitution makes it absolutely clear that there is no provision in the constitution that shall preclude a court from asking questions of an otherwise independent institution or body.

If for nothing at all, the lawyer said the AG must apply his own Regulation 43 which talks about surcharging persons who delay in the implementation of the recommendation.

He said the AG must comply with the dictates of the constitution or face them in court.