By Alusine Fullah

As a way to minimize if not to stop mismanagement of public funds in Ministries Departments and Agencies in the country, the Auditor General whose mandate is to check and cross-check the activities of different institutions has issued its 2022 Audit report and it has brought to light the dubious activities of the Ministry of Planning & Economic Development.

In line with the foregoing, the Audit Report has brought it to the limelight that procurement records and associated supporting documentation for procurement activities amounting to SLE245, 894.40, were not made available for inspection. The Audit Report states: “Procurement records and associated supporting documentation for procurement activities amounting to SLE245, 894.40, were not made available for inspection. …Procurement records were not made available to the ASSL. The issue remains unresolved…”However, Ministry of Planning & Economic Development (MoPED) officially responded that” “All relevant supporting documents in relation to the transactions listed are available for review.”

The Audit Report went further to reveal that bank withdrawals totalling SLE83, 000.87, were without adequate supporting documents such as receipts, invoices and delivery notes.

In line with bank withdrawals totalling SLE83,000.87, the Audit Report commented that “…That of the SLE83,000.87 withdrawals made from the imprest account, adequate supporting documents were submitted for amounts totalling SLE39,106 representing 47% of the queried amount, leaving a balance of SLE43,894. The issue is partially resolved.”