By: Binta Jaiteh
Chairperson of the National Assembly Committee on Finance and Public Accounts (FPAC) Alagie S. Darboe, has advised institutions to cooperate with the National Audit Office (NAO) to avoid delays.
“At times it is not the manpower that causes delay but the response from institutions in acting on the observations or cooperating with NAO on the audit exercise cause delay in one way or the other,” Darboe remarked during the seminar on accountability.
He stated that they received government accounts and the last received and acted on was the 2019. The FPAC resolutions emanating from that report serve as an eye-opener as far as accountability is concerned.
‘’If we are to strengthen and engage accountability, then the focus should be on how to implement these resolutions. When we fail then the entire process fails,’’ Hon. Darboe said.
‘’The 2019 government accounts that were laid and the resolutions developed will serve as an eye opener and I hope and believe that every institution is now careful in trying to make sure the right thing is done in the right way,’’ he added.
However, the police are said to be ready to cooperate with the clerk of the assembly in the implementation of the resolutions.
The Chairperson of the Public Enterprises Committee (PEC) Lamin J Sanneh also adds that there are serious major audit findings that are yet to be solved and they keep on appearing in the coming reports.
“These are major issues that after tabling we should be in a position to make resolutions and see how to resolve the unresolved before-year queries,’’ he remarked.
He stressed that the moment the audit queries appear they portray the institutions negatively and it will be difficult to attract other partners to work with.
He challenged heads of departments to appear during discussions on government-audited accounts.
He says there are constraints because it is the accountant general who directly deals with FPAC and during the interface, they came to realize that some issues occur and the accountant general cannot be in a position to give adequate information.
“Accountant General complied by law to be responding of course she is not the spending officer that those who are directly involved in the spending would be in a certain position to explain,” Darboe said.
