By Sulaiman Jalloh
Addressing government workers on Monday, January 20, 2025, at the administrative building in Parliament, honorable Aaron Aruna Koroma, deputy leader 2 of the opposition in Parliament representing the people of Tonkolilli district, north-eastern Sierra Leone and a member of the Parliamentary Public Account Committee (PAC), said the Auditor General’s report document is considered as an inconclusive document until Parliament review queries raised.
It could be recalled that, PAC had summoned about thirty-three government workers to answer questions on payroll discrepancy at Human Resource Management Office (KRMO) as raised in the 2023, Audit report. “Whenever the Auditor presents the Audit report in Parliament, we consider that as an inconclusive document” he remarked.
On behalf of the committee chairman, honorable Ibrahim Tawa Conteh, he explained to the staff on the mandate of the Auditor general, noting there were discrepancies between the list of payrolls and the list that were in their staff list, stressing that because some of them were not available for physical verification, hence it was raised as a query in the Audit report.
Hon. Aaron continued that is part of the parliament’s mandate to conduct hearings where people are given the opportunity to do what they could have done during the Audit process, but said one of the excuses given by the KRMO office is that some of them had already been assigned to other MDAs.
According to the Law maker, that is not sufficient for them as a committee and the only way to resolve the matter is when they do a physical verification with staff in question.
James Jamil Foday Esq, one of the invited staff argued that some of them did verify but express concerns as to why their names were not reflected in the verified list. He however, thanked Parliament for their work
Morison Benjamin Foryoh, permanent secretary Ministry of Youth Affairs, who also clarified that there are staff who are receiving salaries but not signing in the government payroll while explaining his assignment since 2020 from the ministry of Defence to the ministry of sport and now ministry of youth affairs. He said the transfer of staff could lead to some of the issues raised in the audit report.