By Binta Jaiteh
The National Assembly Committee on Finance and Public Accounts Committee (FPAC) has given a ten-day ultimatum through the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Environment to provide all the agreements between Gambia and Senegal in regard to all timber seized on Gambian soil.
FPAC tasked the PS to provide all the information regarding the payment process on or before 28th September 2023.
“The report further revealed that the Ministry of Environment must provide to the Auditor and FPAC the authority to spend the funds generated from the sale of confiscated timber, on or before 28th September 2023” Hon Darboe stated.
The FPAC passed resolutions for the period of June 2022 to July 2023 on the 2019 Audited Accounts of the Government Annual Activity Reports and Audited Financial statements of Public Agencies and Institutions, City, Municipal, and Area Councils.
The committee therefore resolved a comprehensive list of all fraudulent cases across government institutions, particularly the Accountant general office, the Auditor general office, the Inspector General of Police, and the Judiciary including names, amount, date, and their current status; failure of which, the Inspector General of Police must launch an investigation immediately and report back to the FPAC, he echoed to them.
He said all un-reconciled government transactions indicated in the 2019 audited accounts be reconciled by the Accountant General before the end of the Financial Year, 2023 and a report sent to the FPAC; failure of which, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance must punish the people concern.
According to him, the Minister of Finance must provide a written explanation to the FPAC on or before 28th September 2023, the reasons why amount totaling GMD2,687,362,341.40were made over the maximum threshold of seventy-five (75%).
During the presentation of the report by Allagie S. Darboe, chairperson of the committee, he noted that all un-reconciled government transactions indicated in the 2019 audited accounts be reconciled by the Accountant General before the end of the Financial Year, 2023 and a report sent to the FPAC; failure of which, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance must punish the people concern.
Moving on, the chairperson stated that the Secretary-General at the Office of the President and the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Works must provide a written explanation to the FPAC as to why the approval for a single source procurement for the rehabilitation work at the State House was sought after the completion of the work, on or before 28th September 2023.
Hon Darboe emphasized that the Accountant General must present all un-presented payment vouchers and supporting documents amounting to DM392,091.67 to the auditors for review, on or before 28th September 2023, failure of which, the Inspector General of Police must launch an investigation immediately and report back to the FPAC within 90 days.