By Babah Kanu and Martin Sandy
Abdul Aziz, Acting Auditor General
The President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Dr. Julius Maada Bio has resonated the unhindered bludgeon gains by the Supreme Audit Institution (SAI), Audit Service Sierra Leone in ensuring confidence for enhancing accountability in public institutions in the country.
President Bio enumerated these resounding advances in the Well of Parliament during the State Opening of the sixth Parliament of the Second Republic of Sierra Leone.
According to the President, confidence in the Audit Service has increased. It now covers 85% of government expenditures and is expanding into new audit areas like environmental and climate change, information systems, forensics, and the extractive industries. The Audit Service collaborates with accountability institutions including the Anti-Corruption Commission, civil society organisations, the media, and local communities.
Like President Bio’s recognition of confidence building, international organisations including GAVI-SL, Global Fund, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the African Development Bank and the World Bank have commended the Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL)for the latest approach of auditing public institutions to enhance service delivery to the citizenry. This commendation was done in the form of notes of appreciation for the work undertaken by the ASSL to ensure service delivery that impacts the lives of the people of Sierra Leone.
Based on the satisfactory work of the ASSL, coupled with the introduction of the new audit methodology, focusing on service delivery, recently adopted by the Acting Auditor General Abdul Aziz, these donor organisations have requested the ASSL to audit all their projects in the country.
Over the years, these project audits were outsourced to private audit firms, with the ASSL undertaking few, due to low manpower and resource constraints.
The recent improvement and new reforms at the ASSL have leveraged the building of donor confidence, thereby strengthening the bilateral relationship between Sierra Leone and other countries.
This development is a significant milestone for the ASSL, as it demonstrates the organisation’s growing reputation as a trusted independent audit body. The commendation is also a testament to the government’s efforts to strengthen the country’s public financial management systems in promoting transparency and accountability in the use of public funds.
The Audit Service has enjoyed a good working relationship with these donor bodies over the years, as the new approach will add value to the work of donor projects and build public confidence.
In addition to promoting transparency and accountability within these donor projects, the ASSL has helped to ensure that projects are effectively and efficiently implemented by providing recommendations for improvement.
The Audit Service Sierra Leone is the country’s supreme audit institution established by law to ensure the efficient and effective management of all public resources as mandated by the laws below.
Section 119 of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone mandates the Auditor General to audit the Public Accounts of Sierra Leone and all public offices including the courts, the accounts of the central and local government administrations, the universities and public institutions of like nature, any statutory corporation, company or other body or organization established by an Act of Parliament or statutory instrument or otherwise set up partly or wholly out of public funds.
After its establishment after the country’s independence in 1962, the Audit Service Sierra Leone metamorphosis from the Audit Department to what is today known as the Audit Service Sierra Leone with a legal instrument called the Audit Service Act as amended in 2023.
Section 11 of this Act further mandates the Audit Service to receive the annual financial statements for the previous financial year submitted by Vote Controllers of subvented, central and local government entities as directed by the public financial management laws.
With President Bio’s recognition of the invaluable service of the Audit Service in providing the continuous auditing as the mantra for public accountability, institutions should strive to provide the full support to enable this institution work for the common good.