Following continued hearings by Public Account Committee (PAC) of Parliament in light of outstanding issues in the Auditor General’s Report of 2018, the Chairman of PAC and Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Segepoh Solomon Thomas has again warned auditees to desist from lying under oath which amounts to perjury or contempt of Parliament.
Officials of the Bonthe District Council have been asked to explain to the Parliamentary Account Committee in Kenema today Wednesday why the Chief Administrator of the Council had been absent at a time when he was needed at the post to answer audit queries.
On Pujehun District Council, the PAC observed that Chairmen are in charge of the execution of funds, but when it comes to accountability, they send their deputies to respond to audit queries. Because of this the Committee has resolved that henceforth Mayors and Chairmen will be directly summoned by PAC to respond to audit queries.
Officials of the said Council had presented a receipt of Le 82,500 of withholding tax to PAC for verification by Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL).
On revenue generation, since Central Government has started paying Paramount Chiefs and their functionaries, the PAC has planned to summon Provincial Secretaries, District Officers, Chief Administrators and the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development with the sole aim of improving revenue generation for local Councils to undertake development in their localities.
On the advice of going to the local court to determine the ownership of the property occupied by the bank in Pujehun, the Committee has directed the said Council to prepare a report and show evidence of tools that had been bought and supplied for national cleaning not later than 12:00 noon on Friday.
Based on submission under oath, the PAC has ordered Pujehun District Council to provide the voucher where civil society members had signed and collected cash for monitoring the cleaning exercises in spite of the fact that donors have provided them grants to monitor the governance space in the country.
After Moyamba District Council had presented a receipt for Le3,307,500.00 to PAC for verification by ASSL, the PAC had warned them against expenditure without approval by the Budget and Finance Committee in Council and that in future if receipts for expenditures were not presented and certified at auditing; those funds will be paid by the relevant officials in the affected Councils into the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
10/09/2020. ISSUE NO: 7905