By Sulaiman Aruna Sesay
Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation is currently undergoing intense scrutiny as top officials in the Ministry appeared before the Public Account Committee (PAC), to answer questions relating to the 2021 and 2022 Auditor’s General’s Report on Thursday 10 July, 2024.
The Director General, Dr Victoria M. Sulaimani, has made an appeal for the government to make the ministry self-accounting. Dr. Sulaimani argued that the ministry has solely depended on the government’s budget, and therefore, there is a need for a self-accounting system to ensure accountability and transparency in financial transactions. She believes that this system will provide the ministry with the autonomy to operate freely without having to wait on government orders or the approval of the Ministry of Finance.
She noted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation plays a significant role in the country’s development agenda, and it cannot continue to operate from limited resources. Despite the progress made by the ministry to achieve its mandate, Dr. Sulaimani insists that it still faces a few challenges that can be addressed with a self-accounting system.
Responding to her appeal, the Chairman of Public Account Committee who doubles to be the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Ibrahim Tawa Conteh explained why it is difficult for that Ministry or any other Ministry to operate under the Self-Accounting System. According to him, the reason why it is difficult to make any Ministry Self-Accounting is because, the structures in agencies are different from that of the Ministries. He noted that if you take a close look at the issues that come up in the Ministries; even when they are not self-accounting, when they give them imprest, they will still ask for another imprest and failed to retire it when it is time. According to him, whenever you want to spend money out of the consolidated funds or donor funds, as quoted by the Auditors in regulations 100 sub regulation 1, you must not do so without supporting documents. He added that, sub regulation 1 of regulation 101 stated clearly the documentations that are required or meet the threshold of supporting documents but they will they refuse to provide the documents.
Dr. Sulaimani’s appeal has shed some light on the importance of self-accounting in Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. If implemented, this system will go a long way in increasing the ministry’s efficiency, reducing the government’s burden, and promoting transparency and accountability in the country’s financial transactions.
