By Foday Moriba Conteh
Since the 2019 Audit Report was released, Sierra Leoneans have been expressing divergent views in relation to that report as it contains startling revelations of how State funds were utilized during the year under review.
In a bid to throw light on the methodology used in conducting the audit and on areas that have generated heated discussions in certain quarters, the Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL) on Thursday 7th January 2021 engaged members of the Press, as part of its public education and information drive , during which the institution made certain clarifications.
The engagement took place at the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) Hall on Campbell Street and later at the Sierra Leone State Lottery Building on Tower Hill in Freetown respectively.
In her statement, the Auditor General, Madam Lara Taylor Pearce, disclosed that the Audit Service Sierra Leone draws its mandate from the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone, the Audit Service Act of 2014 and the Public Financial Management Act of 2016 giving the Auditor-General the sole prerogative to audit all Government institutions.
She continued that they are carrying out their work guided by standards which are auditing standards used by public sector external audit institutions, adding that the Audit Service Sierra Leone, as many other supreme audit institutions around the world, carries out three types of Audits which are Financial Statement Audit, Compliance Audit and Performance Audit.
She noted that in 2019 they carried out a financial statement audit on the set of financial statements prepared by the Accountant General for all revenue and expenditure for the year ending 31st December, 2019 furthering that a set of financial statements and unqualified audit opinion were given, adding that in their professional opinion, based on the various audit tests they carried out there were no material statements on those set financial statements but said there were however emphasis on issues that were not material enough to affect the audit opinion needed to be considered by the barriers of the accounts going forward.
She revealed that Part One of the 2019 Auditor General’s Report revealed that financial statement audit was carried out within public enterprises, commissions, projects and local councils and that they also performed various compliance audits in Ministries, Departments, Agencies, Local Councils, Commissions and Public Enterprises of which she noted that those compliance audits found their way into the Auditor General’s Report bordering on matters to be brought to the attention of the public through Parliament for action.
For the purpose of clarity she explained what compliance audit entails pointing out that it is an independent assessment of whether a given subject matter is in compliance with applicable internal or external laws and policies furthering that it is also carried out by assessing whether activities, financial transactions and information comply with all material effects with the authorities governing the audited entity.
On his part, the Deputy Auditor General, Tamba Momoh, made certain clarifications on the 2019 Audit Report specially the issue of the controversial 47 laptops computers at NaCOVERC disclosing that according to a request letter sent by NaCOVERC the Ministry of Health requested for 47 laptops computers stating that the Ministry said 15 were meant for its Situation Room and 32 for its Command Centre.
He added that after the request the Ministry then engaged one of their existing suppliers to supply the said computers at Six Hundred and Thirty-Six Million, Five Hundred and Fifty-Seven Thousand Leones.
According to him the snag was that some of the computers supplied was not according to the said specifications and the National Public Procurement Authority (NPPA) Price Norm was not adhered to.
The Deputy ASSL Boss furthered that NaCOVERC admitted receipt of the 47 Laptops computers of which 15 had touch screens but said that at the time of the audit when NaCOVERC was asked to produce the computers they were unable to do so.
Dilating on the issue of the 50kv Generator that was donated by the Chinese Government to the Government of Sierra Leone, he explained that as per record the Minister of Health acknowledged receipt of the said generator but said at the time of the audit the Ministry was unable to produce the generator with the Ministry explaining that it was taken to Zimmi. He underscored the point that it is not that the generator was not available but they considered it to be missing as it was not present at the point they were expected it to be.
The Auditor General stated that contrary to what some have been peddling that she admitted that there are errors in the Audit Report , there had been no point in time did she made such an admission.
Asked whether a letter was written to her by the Financial Secretary relating to billions of Leones that the institution should have retired into the Consolidated Revenue Fund, the Auditor General said she is not aware of that.
