By Francis H. Murray
The recently published Auditor General’s report has placed the country’s COVID-19 response outfit on the spot over its reported inability to account for certain items procured in 2020 for its operations.
According to the Deputy Auditor General, Tamba Momoh, items procured by National COVID-19 Emergency Response Center (NaCOVERC) which included 47 touchscreen Intel Laptops, a 50 KVA generator and vehicles were not the exact ones delivered for inspection during the audit.
Speaking at a Press Conference organized at the Sierra Leone State Lottery basement hall in Freetown last week, Momoh explained that following a request from the COVID-19 response team to the Ministry of Health for the procurement of 15 Laptops for the Situation Room and 32 for the Command Center with no specifications, the ministry channelled their request.
He noted that a supply was made for Le 640 million (six hundred and forty five million Leones) excluding the 15% GST for all 47 Laptops with a later agreed model of 15-inch touchscreen Intel Core i3, 8G Ram and 1Terabite hard drive.
He stated that the specific laptops procured by the Ministry of Health were however different from what was delivered to auditors during the audit exercise.
“So this was the specification that was agreed between the procuring entity and the service provider (House of Electronics). So when the auditors observed this transaction, they decided to verify just the laptops. We did not even go to the printers or scanners. During the first verification exercise, they brought us some so-called laptops to be part of the 47. The two tests that the auditors carried out before even opening the laptops were whether they were even 15 inches. So we were not able to see any laptop that they brought that was 15 inches,’’ Momoh explained.
He noted that following a series of engagements with the National Interim Coordinator at NaCOVERC who doubles as the vote controller for the response team as well as other key stakeholders to deliver the procured laptops, not a single one of them was accounted for.
Citing the Press Release issued by the Government of the People’s Republic of China in which they confirmed donating certain medical equipment including one 50-KVA generator to the Government of Sierra Leone, Auditor Momoh said that on the 19 March 2020, a 50-KVA generator and other medical equipment were handed over to the Minister of Health.
He disclosed that during the audit, they were told by NACOVERC officials that the generator had been transferred to Zimmy, only to find out that the said generator stationed at Zimmy was in fact a 65-KVA generator, different from what was procured.
He added that among the 30 vehicles procured by NaCOVERC, at least two of them were not new, whilst one had been replaced with another brand.
Momoh went on to note that concerns were raised right through the audit period which followed the issuance of their first query to the institution on the 15th May 2020 about the fact that the finance staff managing NaCOVERC were not competent enough to manage the resources.
He said that key among the other deficiencies which were communicated in the form of a query were that the institution lacked a financial management system, human resource personnel and documentation for certain amounts of money released by the bank, adding that they only chose to respond to the bank withdrawal.
Commenting on the independence of the institution, Auditor General Lara Taylor-Pearce noted that Audit Service Sierra Leone was guided by International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions in all aspects of its work, which she said was fundamental to their guiding principle. She added that although financial independence was key to the core principles of international audits, that financial independence was yet to be achieved within the context of Sierra Leone.
‘‘In Sierra Leone, although the institution is administratively and technically independent, one key challenge is financial independence. According to the guiding principles of supreme audit institutions, financial independence can be assured by ensuring that all funds necessary to carry out the mandate are made available,” she said.
She went on: “The institution can directly apply to the legislature for all required funds as they, the legislature, are independent of the executive. Such funds should be used by the supreme audit institution as they deem necessary. We’re yet to achieve this within the Sierra Leone Public Financial Management Framework.’’
She however assured that she had enjoyed total independence on how the institution should be run, adding that there had been no time that the executive arm had interfered with her job in terms of telling her what to do.
Following the release of the report, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) chief, Francis Ben Kaifala welcomed it and launched an investigation into the issues raised especially on NaCOVERC.
The ACC in a press release issued last week disclosed that it had received the sum of Le 290 million in respect of the laptops, with a total of Le 34 million left to be recovered following a settlement of Le 244 million.
The recent statement by the ACC confirms that if not all but some of the laptops were missing for which a payment plan has been reached and compliance ongoing.
The Auditor General is mandated to carry out audits on the economy, as well as the efficiency and effectiveness with which the audited government entities use their resources in carrying out their responsibilities. The Auditor General independently reports to Parliament.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), chaired by the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Segepoh Solomon Thomas, MP, is set to commence public hearings on the said report on Wednesday (13th January 2021).
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