By Saio Marrah
The Mayor of Freetown Municipality, Yvonne Aki Sawyer on Friday, 26th November this year, appeared before the Public Account Committee (PAC) of Parliament after she was summoned to clarify issues related to the 2019 Auditor General’s Report bordering on the Freetown City Council.
The report indicated that there were projects implemented by other agencies on behalf of the council, but that those agencies cannot be audited because the information required were not available at the time of the audit.
The Chairman of PAC, Sengepoh Solomon Thomas, while addressing the mayor and her top hierarchy at the Committee in the house of parliament ordered the Mayor to provide the committee with documents they will use for clarification.
The Chairman said: “We have been informed as a committee and we do verily believe because we rely on the information provided for us by the Auditor General’s Report that there is a particular issue that begs for resolution. We don’t know whether it is true and we don’t know whether it is untrue. All what we need are the relevant documents and responses to inform our report,”
The required documents include; list of all relevant projects referred to by the audit report, the agencies concerned with the implementation of the projects, funds that were used for project implementation, and the funding agencies. The committee also asked for the council’s resolutions relating to the implementation processes and the location of the projects and all other relevant information.
Thomas said that it has nothing to do with politics, but all they are seeking is to have a fair idea of all the issues and they will arrive at the necessary conclusions which they will submit for debate.
The Mayor while presenting the documents explained how Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) operate with them and other MDAs. She said funds for projects implemented by NGOs on behalf of the council are not directly sent to the council. Among the documents she handed over were those of the Transform Freetown project that was launched in 2019.
She highlighted the Aberdeen Round- About, which she said has been beautifully transformed into a green space, which she said was sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank and then constructed by a company called TED Landscapes.
However, the Mayor was interrupted by the Chairman of the Committee, who said they would not want the Mayor to preempt the committee because they have only requested for the relevant documents and not the explanation she was giving. He told her that she will be asked for the necessary explanation when they have gone through the documents.
Thomas, while standing down the committee said they will call on the Mayor and her full team for relevant information when the committee was ready.
Copyright © Politico Online 29/11/21
