Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo also said the government’s anti-corruption efforts would not be successful without the help of internal auditors.

He added: “This is not a battle I can wage or win alone”.

The president spoke at the 2018 Audit Conference organised by the Internal Audit Agency in Accra, Ghana News Agency reported.

If internal auditors do their jobs, the public purse would be protected and would help the country “do better”, he added.

“There are many layers to the protection of the public purse and internal auditors are its primary defenders.

“There is no better way to keep the confidence of the people than to make public institutions work effectively,” the president said.

Ghana gained independence from Britain in 1957, but Akufo-Addo said he was not pleased that the country had not been able to “get things right” since then.

He said: “During these 60 years there have been many moments of renewed hope, where we have felt that we are yet another opportunity to get things right.

“Some of these opportunities have largely turned out to be unfulfilled leaving the people with the sense of betrayal.”

But he pledged that the government would support auditors to fulfil their mandate to bring transparency and accountability into the public financial system.

He said: “We need to perfect all stages of our public financial management system to enable us to maximise the use of our resources.”