By Binta Jaiteh
Staffs of the National Audit Office have been praised for their professionalism and patriotism in carrying out their work by ensuring transparency, accountability, and probity in public finance management systems.
The speaker of the national assembly of The Gambia Fabakary Tombong Jatta said in a statement: “To empower and support Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) should be everyone’s business, State, and non-State actors alike, if we want to ensure transparency, accountability, and probity in our public finance management systems in all institutions financed with public funds.
“Thus, the focus of this forum is not only to present and reward best performance audit report to prize winners but equally to brainstorm on the strategies and mechanisms that would ensure and strengthen the accountability of public funds in our public institutions.”
“National Audit Office (NAO) of The Gambia has been supporting and continues to support the National Assembly in conducting its oversight functions over public institutions. The NAO is staffed with professionals and patriots who leave no stone unturned in carrying out their work. For the past five years, NAO has been so initiatives taking into consideration the way they conduct their audits. The reports submitted to the National Assembly are more user friendly now compared to before.
“The NAO has performed an audit on the funds spent during Government’s response to the Covid-19, even before the Finance and Public Accounts Committee (FPAC) of the National Assembly requested them to do so. Furthermore, the Auditor General and Team spent days with the Honourable Members taking them through the said report. This has not only empowered Honourable Members in understanding the report but also helped them to ask the right questions to the government officials entrusted with the implementation of the Covid Response,” he added.
He continued: “Similarly, the National Audit Office has over the years conducted performance audit on various government institutions, such as Gambia Ports Authority on its Cargo Handling and the report was presented to the Public Enterprises Committee for scrutiny. Equally, it has conducted similar audit on the supply of farm inputs by the Ministry of Agriculture and distribution of drugs by the central medical store under the Ministry of Health. These audits were all geared to making sure that public funds are judiciously utilised by public officers for the public good. These exercises put Government and its institutions on the spotlight thereby ensuring efficient and effective public finance management and ensuring proper public service delivery.”
