The Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL) on Friday 20th January, 2023 engaged Civil Society Organisations and Media practitioners at its headquarters, Freetown City Council Building in Freetown The session was organised to brief them on issues relating to the 2021 Auditor-General’s Annual Report and the operations of the institution.

The Assistant Auditor-General, Morie Lansana gave an overview of the procedures involved in putting together the Auditor-General’s Annual Report, emphasizing on some of the key highlights in the 2021 Audit Report. He noted that the ASSL is mandated by law to audit all public accounts and offices in Sierra Leone. He stressed that all audits are done based on international best practices and not on personal judgment or interest. Commenting on the audit of the Offices of the President and Vice President, Mr Lansana pointed out that, both offices were audited during the 2021 audit year. However, there were no irregularities that were material enough to have been brought into the Auditor-General’s Annual Report 2021. “We have so many offices that were audited during this period but they were able to address the queries during the audit process and there were no irregularities that were material enough to be included in the 2021 Audit Report”, he clarified.

The Acting Auditor-General, Mr Abdul Aziz stated that civil society and the media have a crucial role in helping the public to understand the contents of the Auditor-General’s Report. He encouraged them to always read the report in order to be au fait with the issues, so that when informing the public on audit issues, they can do so from an informed point of view. The Acting Auditor-General also informed the CSOs and the media that the ASSL recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ani Corruption Commission in which it is clearly stated that in the conduct of an audit, where the ASSL is of the opinion that fraud of financial malfeasance has occurred, the ACC can be alerted for on-the-spot intervention prior to the submission of the said Report to Parliament. He ended by pointing out that this year’s audit will focus on service delivery in order to improve the lives of Sierra Leoneans.

Various concerns and suggestions were made by the CSOs and media practitioners during the engagement.