By Ragan M. Conteh

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) under the auspices of Hon. Ibrahim Tawa Conteh, has unanimously passed a resolution for an efficient and effective handling of imprest accounts.

The PAC boss has also ordered the retrieval of some missing funds be paid into the consolidated revenue funds ( CAF) by the Accountant General, who is managing cash for and on behalf of the Government of Sierra Leone.

The decision was reached following a third sitting on queries raised by the Auditor General on Wednesday 15 January 2025, on the previous financial year of 2023.

After long deliberations during the course of the proceedings relating to transactions on special and standing imprest accounts without supporting documents were identified.

The Public Accounts Committee has resolved in unanimity that no payment should be honoured by the Accountant General.

That is in respect of imprest and donor funded accounts if  fall below the threshold of accountable documents in the public financial management regulations and should be certified by the Internal Auditors before such payments are made by the Accountant General for purposes of transparent and accountable financial governance.

On the query regarding the payment of allowances without the deduction of PAYE (pay as you earn) taxes, the Public Accounts Committee has asked the Auditors to present the schedule for onward forwarding to the Accountant General to do the necessary deductions and pay same to the consolidated revenue funds for an amount that is over Le 260 million Old Leones.