By Esther Wright
Vice President, Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, on the 6th July, 2021 chaired a Government High Level Accountability Platform inaugural meeting held at his office on Tower Hill in Freetown.
The newly formed Accountability platform comprising the Anti-Corruption Commission, Parliamentary Accounts Committee, Audit Service Sierra Leone, Ministry of Finance, Public Sector Reform Unit, was established to ensure efficiency in the effort to improve performance and Government accountability.
Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh noted that the platform will be an information sharing platform that will help in making better coordination of accountability issues, track and deliver on benchmarks, ensure compliance with Auditor-General’s recommendations, and help support the ACC in controlling corruption in Sierra Leone.
The meeting was attended by the Commissioner of ACC, the CEO of the National Public Procurement Authority, the Deputy Speaker and Chair of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament (PAC), the Financial Secretary of Ministry of Finance, the Auditor General, the MCCU Coordinator, the Minister of State in the VP’s office and other support staff of the respective constituent institutions of the Platform.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MCCU, Ndeye Koroma, highlighted the objectives of the high-level accountability platform. These objectives, she explained, were centered on how Government institutions can coordinate to enhance accountability and transparency in gaining citizens’ trust in Government.
She also underscored that pursuing those objectives require a high-level involvement and presupposes a technical team to drive the process.
The Team will work to integrating all international benchmarks in addition to the MCC and solving the systemic complications within MDAs, promoting collaboration and cooperation, taking a holistic view and approach in improving service delivery by identifying leakages, wastage and inefficiencies through the implementation of strategies to address these issues.
The lack of cooperation by MDAs was highlighted by the Anti-Corruption Commissioner, Francis Ben Kaifala, as he noted that “cooperation of MDAs with auditors is a big challenge and that is a fundamental issue to be addressed by all to ensure a better accountability space.” He went further to say “if the underlying issue of co-operation with regard timely disclosure is tackled, most issues in the Audit Report will not recur.”
The Auditor General (AG), Audit Service Sierra Leone, Lara Taylor-Pearce, maintained that all MDAs should realize that the AG’s office is to be seen as a “watchdog rather than a bloodhound” and allow them to do their job.
The resolution that meetings of this nature should be convened quarterly, as and when deemed necessary was agreed and thereafter the meeting was adjourned.
