By Amin Kef Sesay
A day’s Policy Clinic on Public Financial Management Reforms and Internal Audit in the Public Sector was held by the Ministry of Finance on the 22nd June 2021 targeting personnel from Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
The discussions were guided by two research documents presented by the Research and Delivery and Internal Audit Divisions of the Ministry of Finance. The document assesses the issues of prudent public financial and internal audits as well as proffered recommendations that will inform policy-making decisions.
Samuel E.B Momoh, the Senior Deputy Financial Secretary of Ministry of Finance informed participants that the Ministry has been capacitating MDAs on reforms programs, especially in Public Financial Management, and that they used to have the Government Budgeting and Accountability Act 2005, which has now been replaced by the Public Financial Management Act and its associated regulations of 2016.
He furthered that the findings of the two research documents revealed significant outcomes in which the Ministry asked the personnel from MDAs to make their invaluable inputs to help inform decision making. He added that internal audit in Government was not performing well because they were not well-organized, stating that the situation has changed with the strengthening of the Internal Audit Directorate in the Ministry of Finance.
“With the establishment of the research directorate, the research division has collaborated with these key departments on public financial management reform and internal Audit unit to examine the Public Financial Management issues and to provide findings for discussion,” he added.
In his presentation, the Deputy Director of Research and Delivery Division at the Ministry of Finance, Alhaji Abu Komeh, stated that the Ministry is mandated to ensure prudent, effective and transparent use of public funds.
He furthered that the Ministry is guided by principles of transparency and accountability in the budgeting and expenditure processes like formulation and implementation of fiscal policies to achieve macroeconomic stability, provide timely, reliable, and adequate information to the public on fiscal objectives, policies, data, and risks.
Deputy Director Komeh, further disclosed that Public Financial Management findings on four thematic areas are Knowledge of the PFM regulatory environment, Implementation of PFM laws and regulations, Effectiveness of PFM oversight structures, and PFM resources, systems, and processes.
He pointed out some significant challenges affecting the effectiveness of the oversight structures of PFM that there are weak coordination and commitment from FRM stakeholders, ineffective monitoring mechanism, and non-implementation of audit recommendations.
Moses B. Bangura, Assistant Director of Internal Audit of Ministry of Finance touched on areas dealing with the extensive weakness in Internal Controls in the Public Sector which he said is responsible for funds not properly accounted for, periodic reconciliation not done with suppliers, personnel salary increases without appropriate authority, and dates of birth differ between national payroll and NASSIT.
