By Hassan Osman Kargbo
Following the release of the Tribunal Report that a lot of people have been anticipating for in the country, the country’s Chief Ministry, Dr. David Monina Sengeh has taken to his social media handle and applauded President Julius Maada Bio for setting up of the Tribunal Committee that suspends the Auditor General Mrs. Lara Taylor Pearce and her deputy Tamba Momoh.
Dr Sengeh profusely thanked President Bio for doing three things: “1) following the constitution to set up an independent and credible Tribunal and not unconstitutionally removing the Auditor-General even though the government had pieces of evidence of misconduct and unprofessional behaviour against them, ii) Allowing, himself and his office to a scrutiny that many couldn’t have imagined for a Head of State. Some of the records pertained to personal medical and security details that should be otherwise highly classified, iii) releasing this Report presented to him for public consumption,” he said.
He added that the document would serve as a guide for generations to come. Its record taking, detailed reporting, mixed methods of both inquisitorial and adversarial legal systems, and the use of technical, local, and international experts are exemplary.
He however, said that, he was surprised indeed that he hadn’t seen any intellectual or other opinions on the substance yet and said he is waiting for it but alas and mentioned that there’s his.
“1. Hypocrisy of Service. The Auditor-General and her deputy went to all odds to audit the President and his office (including breaching confidentiality) but failed and actively prohibited the auditing of Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyer’s Transform Freetown projects during the same period. Even after her Audit SL team indicated Madam Mayor and her team couldn’t produce records for projects, the Auditor-General and her Deputy refused to sanction the auditing of the mayor in detail (par 145-161). This level of double standards in service could only be attributed to witch hunting of the highest office of the land. In paragraph 253, in what the report says the “evidence remains uncontroverted and unchallenged” that the Auditor-General “refused to sign the letter of request to contact the other parties involved in the Projects” is almost unbelievable. Yet, the Auditor-General went on her own to find third-party information on the office of the President, which she didn’t share with anyone or verify,” he said.
“2. Improper and unethical behaviour.
Now, as someone who has led an MDA for 6 years, I read every draft and final audit report of my institutions (and now, the entire report). I can proudly say that in all institutions I have led, at the time of audits and after, we have resolved all issues we could. One thing is clear, it is inappropriate for the Auditor-General to change a final draft audit presented at the exit interviews without reverting back to the auditors or the auditee. That’s plain and simply inappropriate. From records in the report, the Auditor-General and her Deputy singlehandedly changed the draft audit reports they received from their auditors to malign the office of the president (par 225-227). This is gross misconduct,” he stated.
“3. Conflict of interest and poor leadership.
Now, the Deputy Auditor-General, while in active service to the government, was having a side hustle leading a private firm to deliver audit services to other public institutions? What? The Auditor-General, whose mandate to provide overall leadership of the institution, allowed this to happen repeatedly (par 121-128, 207-209). How is this ok?”, he said.
And said that, there are many other issues to take away and he can’t wait for the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Sierra Leone Bar Association and other bodies who closely followed this matter with great interest to share their views (I can only assume they are still reading the report but their silence is defaming).
