The Wise Bird will never stop turning the pages of the Auditor-General’s Report on the Accounts of Sierra Leone 2022 as promised by the brave bird.

Bra Parrot turned to page 127 of the report, and saw a sub-heading captioned ‘POOR DEBTS COLLECTION MECHANISM.

The Wise Bird noticed from the report that, the Sierra Leone National Shipping Company (SLNSC) owed the Authority SLE 32, 863,519 which according to the report the non-payments are long overdue for 13 months.

From the report, the Wise Bird was able to see that, BOLLORE TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICES (BTL) and INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS SERVICES (ISS) Ltd; had debts totaling SLE 2, 614,961, SLE 126, 495 to BTL and SLE 2,488,466 to ISS Ltd. for 12 months.

The Wise Bird saw on page 189 of the report sub-heading titled PROCUREMENT SPLITTING IN A BID TO EVADE, NCB.

According to the report, GENERAL INTELLIGENT AND SECURITY AGENCY-2022, the report further stated that, the procurement of assorted printer cartridges, stationery and general supplies run at the cost of SLE 159,024.30 was split into SLE 89,067 and SLE 69,956 and awarded to the same supplier on the 28th March, 2022 using the same RFQ method.

According to the report, the audit team observed that there has been an evasion by the agency; instead of using the NCB method, which could have made the procurement process more open, transparent and competitive, it chose otherwise. The Wise Bird noticed that, there was some amount of discrepancies in the process.

On the same page under TERTIARY EDUCATION COMMISSION-2022, with sub-heading, payment without adequate supporting documents.

The Wise Bird noticed that, an amount totaling SLE 192, 827 and SLE 66,357 were made in respect of rent for the commission’s secretariat and brake boosters, and according to the report, no supporting documents such as receipts were made available to the Audit Team for verification, the report states.

The Wise Bird will continue to make a follow-up on all the allegations levied on these institutions.