By Africa 24 newsman

The Chairman of the Public Account Committee (PAC) in parliament Hon. Ibrahim Tawa Conteh has told colleague MPs that Le 39 billion will be recovered this week.

Hon. Tawa Conteh who also doubles as the Deputy Speaker of Parliament was addressing the members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery.

He made the submissions on Friday 21st June 2024 at the Administrative Building in Parliament during the scrutinizing process of MDAs named in the Auditor General’s Report findings.

The deputy speaker said his committee has placed tremendous efforts to recover government missing funds, adding since he started the Public Account Committee there had been significant achievements made so far.

He said the gains made are to complement government’s efforts in revenue generation.

He said lots of institutions both public and private owe government some billions and so these institutions should be identified while monies owed should be recovered for the benefit of citizens and the country.

Hon. Tawa Conteh said his committee is working towards helping President Julius Maada Bio to improve the welfare of the people and to mobilize more revenue for the government, adding that, he is not doing it for those he referred to as

‘rogues’.

“By the time my committee finishes its work, billions if not trillions, will have been recovered,” he assured.

“What NRA and ACC collected in months, we are doing so within a week,” Hon. Tawa Conteh stated.

The Deputy Speaker went on to say that there is nothing secret about the work of the Public Account Committee in Parliament, adding that those government or private institutions that owed the government of Sierra Leone will pay back monies which are not accounted for.

He said income taxes’ monies are yet to be paid to the government’s account.

He said his committee is ready to take Parliament to the public and nothing will be done in secret.

He assured that within a week Parliament has recovered from UDFA about Le 10 billion Leones.

He said under his regime, parliament has life and he is not doing witch-hunting against anyone but it is ‘sober-minded’ to executing its parliamentary duties.

“The Audit report is no longer an opinion because it has been tested in the Court of law and all those involved will pay.

“We are going to recover a lot of monies very soon,” Hon. Tawa Conteh, assured.

He said this PAC is a different PAC and it is geared towards helping government to open a fiscal space.

“I am projecting a recovery of 100%,” he stated.

Hon Conteh said, to open effective and efficient service delivery within the PAC, he has set up a PAC subcommittee that will be looking at the progress of the committees and how MDAs and other sectors including PAC are progressing.

He pointed out that the subcommittee will be looking at compliance procedures not followed by the defaulting sectors for progress.

The Chairman of the Public Account Committee said in two weeks he had recovered what the ACC and other institutions cannot recover between six months period.

The Deputy Leader of the opposition, Hon. Aaron Koroma said the Committee is to help open the fiscal space and work towards meeting accountability and transparency standards in managing taxpayers’ monies.

Hon. Koroma said, so far, what the PAC had done is remarkable and would add more revenue generation to the Treasures Account for development.

He expressed his appreciation to the NRA for submitting a detailed document that stands the test of time.

“If only MDAs and other agencies adhere to the Audit Service queries and work on its recommendations there will be no need for the Audit Service to mention them and call on them to answer questions,” Hon. Koroma said.

He emphasized that lot of teachers face payment delays while government institutions starve because the NRA cannot “proactively” collect funds for development.