By Abass Jalloh
Budget Advocacy Network (BAN), an advocacy organization has joined other groups in calling on the government of Sierra Leone to reinstate the suspended Auditor General, Lara Tailor Pearce and one of her Deputies, Tamba Momoh.
In a statement published on the 9th of March 2022, the advocacy group reaffirmed its commitment to continue to call for the reinstatement of the Auditor-General and her deputy.
“His Excellency still has the power to reverse the suspension and correct the seeming anomaly to defeat the very purpose for which the institution was established. Furthermore, we want to remind His Excellency of his Government’s commitment to protecting the independence of the Audit Service as is evident in the New Direction Manifesto,” the statement reads in part.
It added: “The prolonged suspension is not a popular action, and affects citizens’ perception on accountability especially at a time when Sierra Leone is making consistent progress in Control of Corruption indicator in the MCC Score Card.”
The group noted that the deafening silence by the government on the issue since their suspension in November last year is interpreted in many ways than one and is “pointing mainly to the negatives for the reversal of the country’s progressive status on transparency and accountability issues.”
The statement acknowledged the work of the suspended Auditor-General which it says has helped in exposing public officials and institutions who are not following systems and procedures in terms of managing public resources.
It added that the Auditor-General and team offered immense support to uncover corruption and mismanagement of public resources. “This is evidenced in several Audit reports utilized in the last Commission of Inquiry,” it reads.
BAN reminded the Government of the 66th, United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1 adopted on strengthening the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs). The Resolution was specific about the independence of the SAIs being protected from the Executive who are the primary focus of its audits.
“The independence of the Supreme Audit institutions is necessary for good governance in any country including Sierra Leone. Furthermore, the Mexico and Lima declarations 2 on the SAIs adopted by the United Nations stated that the head of the SAI should be immune to any prosecution for any act, past or present which results from the normal discharge of their duties as the case may be”, BAN stated. The group emphasized that SAIs should be free from direction or interference from the Legislature or the Executive, in the selection of audit issues, planning, conducting audits, organising and managing the audit office.
According to advocacy entity, Audit Service Sierra Leone has demonstrated over the years, high levels of financial probity and provided oversight on the use of public resources professionally, for which the work of the Auditor-General and team has been highly appreciated both nationally and internationally.
The group said this was manifested in the Open Budget Survey Report in which the Audit Service scored 72% in the global rankings, to win laurels. BAN therefore called on President Bio to reverse the suspension with the hope that the Auditor General and her deputy will resume their duties.
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