By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The Accountant General’s office has called for greater independence as a requirement for accountability and transparency and for effective functioning in the ministry of finance in Sierra Leone.
Kebbe Korouma told journalist at the ministry’s offices in Freetown that there could be no openness “if you cannot talk about transparency and be accountable”.
He added that AG’s office is one of about a dozen departments under the ministry of finance and economic development (MoFED) but had triangular relationship with two key departments - the Budget Bureau and the National Revenue Authority (NRA).
He said NRA would raise revenue based on the budget drawn by the Budget Bureau, and the money would be spent by the AG’s office, which was also responsible for sorting out government payrolls and paying civil servants’ salaries, pensions and gratuities.
“We are mainly there to spend these moneys,” said Korouma, but added that the issue of government spending with reference to transparency was always been a serious cause for concern for many, especially Sierra Leone’s development partners like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Mr Korouma said in their line of duty they had to deal with politicians and because of that they were forced to deny them if they attempted to get money by bending the rules.
“A huge part of our work hinges on integrity and that is why we work with guidelines,” he stated, noting that they used the Public Procurement Act of 2004 and Government Budgeting and Accounting Act of 2005 as some of the frameworks.
The call for more independence from the ministry may not have come as a total surprise to many, considering the huge spending by government in recent times that could have provoked the the creation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
The TSA is a type of account that allows government to see the bank accounts of every government ministry, department, and agency, and borrow from them when the need arises.
An official compared it to a Close Circuit TV camera, which is a hub through which you get to see different parts of the building on one screen.
Some analysts have also raised concerns on issues like the centralization of operations and the AG conceded that they were working towards decentralizing some of their functions to agencies and departments. At this point, he said, his department would be there to deliver supervisory and disbursement functions.
“In future we are trying to be more independent so we can do our job efficiently,” he said.
The media engagement held at conference hall of the ministry was designed to educate journalists and other people about the operations of the AG’s office.
Fodie Konneh, the Director of Procurement, told Politico at the fringes of the meeting that with the latest improvement in records keeping at their department, they were now in a better position to give out information from their archive at a much faster pace.
This will come as welcome news to many researchers, especially journalists, who have had trouble accessing basic information from the finance ministry.
(C) Politico 10/02/16
