By Sahid Bangura

The Ministry of Finance, which is responsible for the disbursement of the public fund to other Ministries and organizations, after being thoroughly inspected by the Audit Service, has been incriminated of mismanagement and embezzlement of billions of public fund.

Following the Audit Report, during the period of review, an amount of SLE95,503,441 was budgeted for staff costs and other benefits, but the Ministry exceedingly spent an amount of SLE105,256,990, which “resulted in a budget overrun of SLE9,753,579,” without any evidence to support the overrun budget.

Also, during the period of review, it was reported that an amount of SLE19, 208,923 was budgeted for the recurrent and capital expenditure, but as per the Information Technology (IT) Audit of the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMIS), the Ministry spent an amount of SLE65, 556,956 which exceeds the budgeted amount. The overrun budget was SLE46, 358,033, and there was no justification for the overrun budget.

“Five vehicles procured at a total cost of SLE6, 682,500 were not recorded in the fixed asset register maintained by the Ministry. Furniture and equipment acquired in FY2022 were neither recorded in the fixed assets register, nor were they marked with unique identification code.”

In response to that report, the Ministry noted that they were working to develop an asset register, and that that would contract someone to do the unique identification code, but as at that time of review, neither did they submit assets register for the five vehicles, furniture and equipment, nor did they provide evidence that the newly acquired assets were marked with unique identification code.

According to the report, of the licences which were paid for, for 848 users at an amount of US$932,800 (US$1,100 per user), there were only 509 active users of the licences, leaving a difference of 239 licences which amounted to US$372,900, not being used.

The report also disclosed that the Ministry lacks “IT Security Policy,” and that “There was no evidence in the form of security incident reports and follow-up documents to access security controls with respect to threats to the network, database, environmental security or employee’s violation,” thus recommending that a strong Information Security policy and guidelines be developed and implemented for the regulations of the IFMIS.

It was revealed that an evidence of a test, which helps to identify potential weaknesses, flaws and vulnerability of the IFMIS, was not received by the Audit Service; there was no Insurance Police or Classification of ICT Assets, and the “ICD Department did not submit a business continuity and disaster recovery policy.As per the Audit Report, the backup files, which help to improve the efficient and effective restoration of important data at the right time, there was no evidence to prove that they were tested since the initiation of the IFMIS; in regards with the source code, which helps a third part to access the software, there was no written agreement for the “Free Balance software.”

Reportedly, the Government of Sierra Leone is not benefiting from the investment made on the IFMIS due to unutilized key module; the report stated that there were no evidence of policy on career development plans for the ICT staff, and “There was no maintenance policy to ensure that reported faults were resolved within an acceptable timeframe.