By Mabinty M. Kamara
The Mano River Union (MRU) Technical Commission on Administration and Finance and the Audit Committee have concluded a two-day meeting at the MRU Secretariat in Freetown. The deliberation saw the committees discuss issues on the growth and development of the union.
This meeting was meant to review and approve the report of the Audit Committee, examine the union’s financial statements and draft budget and provide technical opinions for adoption by the MRU’s Ministerial Council.
Secretary General of the MRU, Ambassador Madina Wesseh praised the Audit Committee for professionally dealing with the union’s internal control mechanism.
In her remarks, she said the union will continue to work to ensure that peace and development for the people of the four member countries of the Union: Guinea, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone.
“We continue to aspire to live and work within the vision and guiding principles of our heads of state to bring the economies and the 50 million people of the 4 countries closer to peace and development of the sub region. There are many of us who do not see this task as light, in fact we see this as a mission which requires serious commitment to which those who have been entrusted with the task must go the extra mile, especially when there is so much work to be done with little time and resources at hand,” she said.
Sierra Leone’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Dr Francis Mustapha Kaikai told the meeting that the work of the Technical and Financial Committee was timely.
"You are the technical body under the provisions of the Mano River Union with responsibility for preparation of the Ministerial Session on Administrative and Financial Matters and ensure the implementation of the recommendations and decisions of the Union’s statutory bodies,” he noted.
Yao Kovami, Head of the Delegation from Cote d’Ivoire, stated that countries that are described as under developed should understand the need to work together. He added that their participation in such a meeting was a show of their commitment to work with the Union.
He said: “Our common challenge is to make MRU a Union that has direct impact on member states.”
Kovami therefore called on member states to support policies and do something about the mostly young men in the sub-region who risk their lives trying to migrate to other countries.
Ambassador Wesseh informed the meeting that with support from USAID, through the West Africa Biodiversity and Climate Change Program, the MRU will have a new accounting system.
“Our financial accounting and reporting systems on IPSAS [International Public Sector Accounting Standards] will be more transparent and in line with international best practices for inter-governmental bodies such as the MRU, the UN, and EU as well as other major continental and regional inter-governmental bodies,” she said.
Nicolas Johnson, Deputy Adviser to the Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Republic of Liberia, gave his country’s commitment to the program.
“On behalf of the Government and People of Liberia, I will like to express our commitment to the continuous progress of the Union,” he assured.
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