Government auditors in Sierra Leone should no longer accept additional documents from any Ministry, Department or Agency (MDA) once the Auditor General’s Report has been published, the parliamentary committee on public accounts has declared.
Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Solomon Sengepoh Thomas, who is also Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, made the declaration on Monday at an ongoing nationwide public hearing session.
The hearing is being convened on the Auditor General’s Report for the fiscal year 2017.
“Auditors should not receive any other documents from MDAs as long as the Auditor General’s Report is out,” Mr Thomas was quoted saying at a hearing in the northern town of Makeni.
He warned that drastic action would be taken against anyone found wanting.
The Accountability Committee chairman is unhappy that many MDAs have failed over the years to put their records intact and have taken to the habit of submitting extra documents after the reports find them wanting.
He noted that this has allowed some of these MDAs to ‘cook up’ figures and shift the blame for their performance on errors.
“This is extremely unfair to the country,” he said, adding: “When taxpayers’ monies are given to MDAs they should fight tooth and nail in ensuring that all the documents are available for auditing purpose. PAC will not tolerate some of these excuses”
The deputy Speaker also said he would ensure that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) was fully involved in their oversight function in the future.
The public hearing by the PAC is a routine exercise that takes place at least once every year.
The Committee members travel to the 16 districts across the country to probe public institutions.
The current leg of the hearing is slated for the three districts of Makeni, Bo and Kenema.
According to reports, in the last two days alone in Makeni, 16 MDAs were probed.
KC/as/APA