By Alusine Fullah
Audit Service Sierra Leone‘s mandate as the supreme audit institution of Sierra Leone is to audit all government institutions and any other entities that receive money for and on behalf of the people of Sierra Leone, as enshrined in Section 119 of 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone, the Audit Service Act of 2014, and the Public Financial Management Act of 2016. As the guardian of Sierra Leone’s economic security, their business is to ensure that public resources are utilised in the best interest of the citizens.
In other words, as the Supreme Audit Institution of Sierra Leone, the mandate of the ASSL covers the entire public sector, with the responsibility to audit the central and local government, public enterprises, the central bank, state-owned commercial banks, and other state-owned financial corporations. Section 119 of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone and the Audit Service Act are the legal instruments through which this mandate was given.
In line with the foregoing, the Ministry of Lands Housing And Country Planning is on the firing line for the embezzlement of SLE461, 100 from the land lease rental, and sale of land (freehold). According to the Audit Report the Ministry of Lands failed to pay the above money to the Consolidated Fund. The report states:
Revenue Collected not paid to the Consolidated Fund Section 44 (1) of the PFMRs of 2018 requires that all public monies, including but not limited to tax and deposit of non-tax revenue shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund, unless otherwise provided by an Act of Parliament. Contrary to the above, our audit disclosed that revenue from the land lease rental, and sale of land (freehold), amounting to SLE461,100 and US$50,000 were not paid into the Consolidated Fund. According to the Auditors’ comment, they were not provided with management response or evidence of payment into the Consolidated Fund. And the Audit Report further stated that the issue remains unresolved.
