By Mohamed K. Turay
A 22 August 2023 press release signed by Victor Lansana Koroma, the Executive Director of Health Alert, had called for the official appointment of a substantive Auditor General in Sierra Leone.
The release states that: “It is barely two years now when the office of the Auditor General has no substantive person appointed by the President to serve as Auditor General…. The office is very critical in overseeing the management of state resources and state funds as stated in the Audit Service Act of 2014 which states that the Audit Service shall have an Auditor-General who shall be the head of the Audit Service, appointed pursuant to Section 119 of the Constitution of Sierra Leone and on such terms and conditions as may be approved by the President.”
The release also stated that: “To provide overall leadership in the conduct and management of the day-to-day business or activities of the Audit service Sierra Leone, there should be commitments on the Government in order to initiate and maintain high-level contact with interested parties, both local and international”, and that there should be no vacuum in the operations of the Audit Service.
The Executive Director of Health Alert, Victor Lansana Koroma, has therefore asked President Julius Maada Bio to see the need for the appointment of a substantive Auditor General as part of government’s commitment to public accountability and good governance.
Also in that press release, the CSO hammered home the role of the Auditor-General as pivotal in ensuring the effective management of public resources and uncovering instances of corruption and mismanagement of state resources; hence safeguarding the nation’s finances and promote accountability.
“The absence of a competent and substantive Auditor-General jeopardizes the government’s ability to maintain fiscal discipline and ensure accountable use of public resources, as an essential component to restore confidence in donors and other development partners, therefore the urgent need to appoint a substantive person gives confidence to the donors, multilateral and bi-lateral partners in the management of public funds and ensure the government’s adherence to sound financial practices”.