By Amin Kef Sesay
The Institute of Governance Reform on Tuesday 22nd March, 2022 published a critical perspective on Audit Uptake and Integrity in Sierra Leone from the period 2015-2020.
IGR said that considering this growing public interest in the audit, they took a deep dive into ASSL’s records from 2015 to 2020 to understand the progress made in the uptake of audit recommendations.
Their brief documents the level of effort by the ACC and oversight committees in the previous and current Parliament towards audit compliance.
The main sources of information for the brief were the annual Audit Reports 2015 – 2020, annual budgets, official records and key informant interviews with staff of the ASSL, the ACC, Public Accounts Committee of Parliament and local CSOs.
IGR compiled four categories of audit recommendations that informed this brief: financial accounting, procurement procedures, performance management and internal controls.
In its Summary Findings, IGR reported that in total, 2,655 audit recommendations were produced by the Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL) for all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and local councils for the six-year period covered – 2015-2020. Only 38% of audit recommendations were implemented in the last six years.
Ministries of Transport and Aviation (60%); Foreign Affairs (46%); Public Works and Assets (45%); and Sports (45%) were the most compliant with audit recommendations.
Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (MBSSE) was the least compliant for the six-year period with only 22% of its 60 recommendations implemented.
No recommendation was implemented by the Ministry in 2017 contributing to a huge backlog of unimplemented recommendations. However, MBSSE made a remarkable turnaround in 2020, implementing 50% (2nd highest) of its recommendations for that year.
The five top local councils that were more compliant with audit recommendations are: Bonthe District Council; Kailahun District Council; Falaba District Council; Kono District Council; and Kenema District Council.
On the Way Forward, IGR recommended the following:
1. To improve public financial management (PFM) oversight, Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) should consider institutionalizing the tracking of audit compliance by developing a digital tracker for all MDAs to see in real time the progress they are making to address their designated audit recommendations. Ministry of Finance (MoF) could consider expanding its Opendatasl.gov.sl portal to include updates on audit compliance.
2. In addition to popularizing audit reports, CSOs should consider providing in-depth analysis and shadow reporting which can take the form of expenditure tracking, fiduciary risk analysis of key sectors and service delivery tracking.
3. To increase audit uptake, we recommend a two-pronged approach:
(a) incentivize champions of audit compliance to do more. Example, individuals in Ministries such as Transport and Aviation should be recognized through a national awards programme for their consistent progress in audit compliance. And
(b), take punitive action against public officials who fail to implement audit recommendations or submit supporting documents during audits, in a timely manner.
4. The ACC, AGR said, is doing a commendable job in recovering cash loss but more needs to be done to block the systemic leakages cited in annual audits that continue to provide a conducive environment for corruption to occur.
5. Political parties, it said, should take responsibility for ensuring that the Councils they control are compliant with audit recommendations and minimize fiduciary risk.
6. Stakeholders should work towards settling the current audit dispute out of court, lower the rhetoric among the interested parties and promote genuine conversations on audit integrity and uptake of recommendations.
