By Sahid Bangura

As the Auditor General of the Audit Service Report and Team continue strengthen their wings in exposing the dubious activities embedded within the public service sectors, it has been revealed that the Ministry of Basic Secondary School Education made insufficient supply of books to schools, mismanaged billion of Leones, and failed to account for 15 vehicles, 25 motorbikes, and a LaserJet Printer worth SLE13, 500.

In regards with the requirements of the supply of books to schools, the report noted that the books were to be supplied to pupils based on the subject they are offering, however, according to the report, the Ministry did not supply the book to school based on the number of subjects. The Audit Service noted: “During our visit to selected schools within the Western Area, we observed that some pupils were supplied four exercise book even though they were offering nine subjects.”Observation of the report also revealed that the specification of books that were to be supplied, (base on the number of pages) in the Ministry’s Store Issue Vouchers, were quite different from the books received by schools and verified by the Audit Service. Record of the report stated, “Instead of supplying 120 pager exercise books as indicated in the store Issue Vouchers (SIV), 80 pages exercise books were supplied to the schools.”

The recommendation of the Audit Service, which states that the Deputy Director of Education, Western Area should ensure the supply of exercise books to pupils based on the number of subjects offered, received a response from the Management of the ministry; the response states that it is because the budgeted exercise books for schools does not always conform with the “ever-growing roll of pupils” at the time the books were supplied. However, the Auditor General commented that their recommendation was not implemented, which left the issue unresolved.

In an effort of the Auditor Service in inspecting a sample of assets owned and controlled by the Ministry as at 31st December, 2022, they observed that 15 vehicles and 25 motorbikes were not made available for physical verification, and “A Laser jet Printer valued at SLE13,500 assigned to the Senior Assistant Secretaries was also not made available for physical verification.”

In response to the unverified assets, the Management of the Ministry responded, “The leadership of the Ministry is in receipt of the report from the Senior Assistant Secretary about the office break by an unknown thief, for which the Ministry has taken administrative measures which include an internal investigation as well as a police investigation which is ongoing. The outcome of that will be submitted for the attention of the Audit Service Sierra Leone.”

The Auditor General went forward to comment on the unverified assets that, in respect of the ongoing investigation as alleged by the Ministry, there was no evidence of a police report. Also, the report added that “The 15 vehicles, 25 motorbikes, and the Laser jet Printer were not made available for physical inspection. The issue remains unresolved.”

The Audit Service Report also disclosed that staff members who had resigned from the Ministry were received a payment of salary totalling SLE12, 754. The report recorded: “One of them was paid a total salary of SLE3, 428 for four months after his resignation, and the other was paid SLE9,326.” According to the report, the Ministry contravenes Subsection 112(2) of the PFMRs of 2018 and Rule 12.4 of the Civil Service Code, Regulations and Rules of 2011.

In response to the payment of salary to resigned staff, the Management of the Ministry noted that they had contacted the former staff whose names were on the payroll with an instruction to refund the said monies, and that the staff acknowledged the receipt of the correspondence and promised to make the said payment by installation, but the Auditor of the Audit Service confirmed the letters that were sent to the staff, and commented that neither the total amount of SLE12,754 was recovered, nor an evidence of agreed payment plan was made with the staff.

The Audit Service went forward to unearth a total number of 71 staff of the Ministry, who failed to present themselves for physical audit verification. It was recorded that, in 2022, 46 of the 71 staff received a salary totalling SLE1, 480,281. According to the response of Management of the Ministry, the staff were contacted and queries were sent to them for not making themselves available; and copies of the queries sent to the staff were verified by the Audit Service; however, the Auditor General commented that in spite of the queries sent to the staff, they did not avail themselves for the said verification, and their names continue to exist on the salary voucher of the Ministry.