Samuel Kallon 
The Ministry of Finance is working with various stakeholders including the Audit Service Sierra Leone and Anti-Corruption Commission to develop a holistic and coordinated approach to address the issues raised in the Auditor General’s Report 2021.
According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Finance on the 3rd February, 2023, appropriate actions will be taken against all process owners, vote controllers, accountants, procurement officers etc both past and present, mentioned in the Audit Report. The Acting Auditor General, Mr Abdul Aziz was highly commended for the timely release of the Auditor General’s Report 2021.
It is worth noting that actions to be taken by Government will include the application of Section 23 of the Finance Act 2022 which amends Section 13 of the Public Financial Management Act 2016, by the provision of a new sub-section 6 stipulating that “Notwithstanding this act or any other law where the vote controller or other responsible person of a (a) budgetary agency; (b) sub-vented agency; (c) other entity in the central government (d) local council; (e) social security fund; or (f) public enterprises fails to implement or respond to the internal and external audit recommendations within thirty working days from the effective date of the publication or issuance of the report, his remuneration, fees and allowances shall be withheld subject to the authorization of the minister until the vote controller, or other responsible person, implements the internal and external audit recommendations”
The Ministry of Finance is presently compiling a schedule by public sector entities detailing audit issues, responsible officers and action points for the consideration of the Hon. Minister of Finance.
The release further assures the general public that the ministry is carefully looking at the report to take the required actions to ensure that the audit issues raised are adequately and appropriately addressed and that the public will be informed of actions taken to ensure that audit recommendations are implemented accordingly to improve the overall public financial management in Sierra Leone.
