''All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing'' - Edmund Burke

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Vol XII No 1

The tendency sometimes to protect perpetrators for the sake of peace...doesn't help society. Impunity should not be allowed to stand. - Kofi Annan on Waki report

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Thursday December 17, 2015 - The Auditor Generals report for the management of government resources for the year 2014 is out and save for a few areas of improvement, the picture of a deliberate lack of financial control and gross impropriety remains in government ministries, departments and missions abroad.Sierra Leone's Auditor General Lara Taylor-Pearce.

The Auditor General Mrs Lara Taylor-Pearce has again published the body's findings with regards to the reporting and the use of government assets and resources in the care of officials in charge of safe-guarding these resources.

The picture for 2014 tells the story of a band of hardened and unrepentant criminals who flout laid down rules with impunity, divert the people's money into the pockets of co-conspirators - giving a message out to all - that as long as they enjoy the protection of the smoke and mirrors rat at State House, they can get away with anything.

Perhaps the frustration of dedicated officials at the Auditor General's office could best be summed up in this observation contained in the report. These are in the main -

"A slow response by those charged with governance to our message of embracing their responsibility to guide and direct the development and performance of a strong system of internal controls in ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

This includes improving their oversight function, demonstrating effective and ethical leadership, strengthening the audit committees and insisting on credible and regular reports on the finances and activities of MDAs.

A lack of consequences for poor performance and transgressions in general government. This is evident from the inadequate response to the high levels of unauthorised, irregular as well as fruitless and wasteful expenditure, as detailed in the audit report in other paragraphs indirectly supporting the opinion; and the weaknesses in performance management, which include a lack of credible and effective performance management systems across MDAs.

The action of the executive arm of Government towards the implementation of the recommendations in the report of the Auditor-General, a report debated and approved by Parliament, has not been very effective in achieving the goals of improving public financial management reforms in Sierra Leone.

Therefore the incidences of financial indiscipline continue to persist. The picture and caption say all

The challenge we face is that when our report is sent to Parliament our elected representatives, meeting in committee, do not always demand a full accounting from officials for the issues raised.

Parliamentary promotion of transparency in public administration and good governance is perhaps not as effective as it might be. This has forced us to consider why we are not having sufficient impact when it comes to audit findings and recommendations.

(Is RASS-in Bundu and J F Kamara reading/listening?)

This is indeed a desperate cry from the guardians of the country's economic security. It is a cry for the needed action from all those whose duties include the pursuance and prosecution of all those found wanting, of all those who have been shown in the various reports of stealing the people's resources with impunity.

This is a wake-up call to the three arms of governance - State House, Parliament and the Judiciary lest Sierra Leone slips into a failed state.

The new report should be looked at more closely by all those in whose hands the integrity of the country are held and the government of the rat needs to take more than a closer look.

It needs to take a second, if not a third reading to understand the message contained in the Auditor General's report for 2014. A government that is worth its salt would see that this report reminds it of its obligations to the people, their needs, their ambitions and their dreams that they would just love to be in a country they could feel is theirs and that their voices are hears when it comes to making Sierra Leone a better place for all.

This report, as in previous ones, shows that the stealing of the peoples resources is now been done on an industrial scale using all and any devious methods to siphon funds and assets into individual pockets, property and accounts.

One part of the report shows how nasty these tactics can be - of how bids are split to evade open contracts and bids.

Procurement - The following were observed;

It was observed that procurement of assorted goods and services, undertaken in various ministries worth Le1.27 billion, were split in an apparent effort to evade the requirement for national competitive bidding. Procurement documents were not presented in respect of goods and services procured valued at Le648 million by various ministries during the period under review. As well as breaching national procurement law, the failures to apply proper procurement processes would have led to value for money not being achieved and a waste of limited government resources.

The lack of accountability runs through it all. Take this for example.

Defence procurement - Some findings stand out as especially egregious and need to be highlighted. In November 2013, the former Minister of Defence acting on behalf of the Government entered into agreements for the procurement and supply of 126 common use and specialised vehicles in two lots of 69 and 57 with two suppliers involving the sums of US$10,654,168 and US$5,058,368 respectively.

A number of issues were identified with this procurement:

Of the 126 vehicles ordered only 49 were delivered leaving a balance of 77 outstanding. A comparison of the invoice prices, the NPPA price norm, current market prices and prices of similar vehicles procured by other government agencies, disclosed that the vehicles were overpriced by Le30 billion (US$6.1 million).

This was a clear manifestation of total disregard for the principle of economy in the use of public funds by those acting on behalf of the Government in the contract agreements. Some of the vehicles delivered did not match the specification in the contract agreement.

For example, two ambulances were supplied instead of mini-buses. Two defective vehicles were returned to the supplier and up to the time of writing this report the vehicles, valued at $620,000, have not been replaced or fixed by the contractor. There were other deviations in specification as well. Audit recommendations taken very lightly as the thieving continues.

Although the contract required that “all taxes, levies and other expenses …” be borne by the supplier, there was no evidence that duty amounting to Le9.7 billion was paid. Even though the contract agreement stipulated that “the suppliers shall provide servicing parts for a period of one-year”, there was no evidence to confirm that the suppliers had complied or that these spares were ever provided to MOD.

Kindly read this bit from the report - "We estimate there has been cash losses to the public purse of Le140,513,297,368. As in previous years this has occurred for a number of reasons, some inter-related suggesting strongly that public financial management has much room for improvement in all MDAs.

For example: Monies allocated to some MDAs are not accounted for at all. Payments without adequate supporting documents persists in almost all the MDAs. Monthly bank reconciliations are not carried out in some MDAs, this is a fundamental failure of internal control over cash and banking procedures and the control should also be undertaken by persons with no access to the physical cash or bank statements.

There are significant weaknesses in the management of revenue in most revenue generating entities.

For instance, transferring funds to NRA is subject to unnecessary delay; We noted that in many cases, withholding taxes were not being deducted from suppliers or contractors’ payments.

Several significant lapses were observed in procurement procedures resulting in incomplete transactions and hence unsatisfactory service delivery.

Moneys intended to be managed by imprest accounts are not properly closed out or accounted for with the result that control over imprest accounts is weak and analyzing and posting expenditure accurately to ledger accounts is seriously impaired. 

Fixed assets, stores and fuel records are not adequately recorded in applicable registers and other records. In addition, although there has been some improvement over the years, there are still significant seemingly reluctance in making available requested documents to our audits for review.

The extent to which our recommendations for improvement in controls remain unimplemented is not acceptable and many entities have failed to make adequate, if any, responses to our findings. The findings, expanded upon in greater detail below, do not inspire confidence that resources are being managed optimally with due regard for economy, efficiency or effectiveness or fully in accordance with the intent of Parliament.

Our missions abroad as usual are a nest of thieving vipers who do not think twice in harvesting whatever funds they can get from the peoples' purse. Here's one small item in the nest as are to be found in one of our missions.

"A payment of $26,090 was made to a hotel as advance booking for the presidential working visit to United States of America – Washington DC. In addition, an amount of $20,000 was received by the embassy from the state chief of protocol, as refund of expenses relating to the presidential entourage, this was used to offset part of the hotel bills as per instruction by the head of chancery, and cash payment was then made to the hotel.

The total payment made by the embassy was $46,093, which included expenses relating to other delegates who were not part of the presidential entourage. However, there was no evidence to prove that those delegates reimbursed the embassy for bills paid on their behalf. It was recommended that all such transactions must be done through the banking system and recorded appropriately in the books of accounts. The HOC should also clarify the issue of the other delegates not reimbursing the embassy for expenditure incurred on their behalf.

(See some excerpts from the report)

 

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