By Mabinty M. Kamara
The Annual Auditor General’s report for the financial year 2020 has revealed alleged financial irregularities in many public institutions in Sierra Leone among which are government Ministries and Department which accounted for a total of Le42.3billion financial losses.
“Those identified irregularities have given rise to an estimated loss in cash and stores to the tune of Le42.3billion (Le3.7billion, Le5.6billion and Le33billion in 2018, 2019, and 2020 respectively),” the report reads.
The cash loss according to the report points out the extent of non-compliance with relevant public financial management laws, rules and regulations developed to guide the use of public resources.
“The identified irregularities are as a result of poor records management, wherein requested documents are in most cases not submitted for audit purpose. In some other instances, it was as a result of savings that could have been made, if accountable officials had duly complied with the provisions in the public financial management framework guiding the use of public resources”, the report says.
The document, among other institutions, also notes irregularities in the office of the President especially on overseas travels that have to do with the first family, noting that impress of those travels were not properly accounted for.
It also spotted a total cash loss during 2020 of Le4.3 billion in the 22 local councils across Sierra Leone, leading to cash losses in the areas of Revenue, Payments, Tax Administration, Inventory/Stores, and Payroll, Sitting fees and allowances, and Procurement.
The report also states that a total of 16 Public Enterprises and Commissions did not submit their accounts for the 2020 financial year while 38 allegedly submitted their accounts after the stipulated deadline date of 31 March 2021.
Like other sectors audited, it notes Tax Irregularities, Inventory/Stores Irregularities, Unsupported Payments, Cash Irregularities, and Unretired Expenditure.
“Those identified matters have given rise to a loss of Le37.9billion (Le160.9million; Le10billion; Le13.1billion; Le 8.1billion and Le6.45billion in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 respectively)”.
It added: “Although a number of ICT issues were also observed during the audit and across several institutions, due to their sensitivity and security implications, those issues have been restricted to correspondence with the clients and Parliament”, reads the report.
It states that the outcome of the report on enterprises, commissions, and donor funded projects suggests the need for improved financial management with a clear focus on basic principles of internal controls, which may include sound procedures for authorising, recording, and reporting transactions as well as separation of duties.
Responding to the allegations in the report, the Minister of Information and Communication, Mohamed Rahaman Swaray acknowledged receipt of the report and assured that the government would act on all legitimate recommendations of the report, noting that the report is sensational. “This report is very sensational. I have seen amounts allegedly not accounted for which are now being mistaken for amounts that have been embezzled. At the time the auditors visited, some documents held by some vote controllers were not available,” he said.
He added that nobody was yet a criminal as people still had time to clear their names in relation to issues raised against them.
The Executive Director of the Centre for Accountability and the Rule of Law (CARL) Ibrahim Tommy described the report as “shocking”, saying that it showed significant gaps and that there was a lot that should be focused on as a country. “The government certainly needs to take financial management seriously,” he said.
He called on the Office of the President to clearly explain to the people how those transactions were made “in particular, the report notes that certain payments were claimed to have been made but upon verifications, the payments were not done. That is something that the office of the President really needs to deal with”.
The report recorded a total cash loss of Le 113 billion for the year 2020 above that which was recorded in 2019 which was Le 13.7 billion.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online 17/12/21
