By Hassan Osman Kargbo

As a way to fight corruption and other mismanagement activities in Ministries Departments and Agencies in the country, the Audit Service Sierra Leone has released its 2022 annual report and captured the embezzlement of public funds in the Agricultural Value Chain Development Project (AVDP). As part of their mandate, the Agricultural Value Chain Development Project (AVDP) is to increase production and improve the marketing of rice, palm oil, cocoa and vegetables, contributing to the Government’s priorities of rice self-sufficiency, crop diversification and rural poverty reduction.

The AVDP should also ensure to invest in agricultural mechanization, irrigation and water management. They should strengthen and climate-proof rural infrastructure through the rehabilitation of feeder roads and warehouses to improve product drying and storage capacity. AVDP also build the capacity of smallholder farmers through farmer field schools and provide them with credit for their investments in smallholder farms.

However, it seems like there were lots of irregularities that is going on at the AVDP according to the Audi report. According to the report, ASSL conducted financial statements and compliance audits of the Agriculture Value Chain

Development Project (AVDP) for the period between 1st January and 31st December 2022 and the report revealed that from the examination of the approved annual work plan and budget (AWPB) and the draft Financial

Statements submitted for audit for the period under review, they identified overspending of US$259,847 in the statement of comparison of budget and actual amounts. The authority for the overspending was not submitted for audit inspection.

As the result of the foregoing, the official response from AVDP was that major reason for overspending was the payment of backlog withholding taxes for FY2021. The amount paid for withholding taxes were more than what were budgeted for as the amount in the Tompro as backlog were more than what were indicated in the former Financial Controller’s handing-over note. All payments made in 2022 had been made in the approved 2022 AWPB.

However, during the budget revision exercise, the PMU did not take into consideration the payments already made when concluding the 2023 revised AWPB. Going forward, during the budget revision exercise, the PMU will ensure that payments made were added to the projections for the year.​

The Auditor’s Comment was evidence of authority for the overspending were not submitted for audit verification and The issue remains unresolved. The report admitted that payment of Salary to Former Employee obtained and reviewed the project’s payroll for the period under review and noted that a former Monitoring and Evaluation Officer of the Project was paid a full month’s salary of SLE11,999 (US$1,198) net for July 2022 after his contract was terminated in June (last day of Work –30th June, 2022), and the report recommended for a recovery of those fund from the former staff, and evidence submitted for audit inspection. Additionally, duty of care should be exercised to avoid such loss of funds in the future.​

And the Auditor’s Comment was that Evidence was not submitted to indicate that Management had engaged the former staff to refund the salary received and there were no evidence of a refund of the said amount. The issue remains unresolved.

Also, upon review of the fixed assets register, the report observed the following:

“1. The fixed assets register did not maintain a column for funding source of assets which contravenes Module 3, Subsection 12.3 of the AVDP’s Project Implementation Manual.

2. The unique registration numbers and engine numbers of 11 vehicles and 77 motorbikes were not captured in the assets register.
3. The fixed assets register was not updated because 44 various categories of assets such as vehicles, motorbikes and computers worth US$388,982.66 were still indicated in the register as being assigned to 11 former employees of the Project.
4. There were 24 various categories of assets such as vehicles, computers, UPS, and water dispensers valued at US$222,470.91 in the fixed assets register that were not assigned to staff of the Project,” it stated.

The official Response from the office was The PMU intends to undertake a comprehensive fixed assets verification exercise in July 2023. During the exercise, assets not coded would be coded, the register would be updated with the funding source, and assets in the name of former staff would be reassigned to present users. All deficiencies in the present register would be addressed after the verification exercise.

The Auditor’s Comment was the anomalies identified in the management of the Project’s assets were not addressed. There was no evidence that the fixed assets module in Tompro had been used to record assets owned and controlled by the Project. Additionally, evidence of actions taken to conduct the fixed assets verification and update of the fixed assets register was also not submitted for audit verification. The issues remain unresolved.