By David Moinina Sengeh
I just read every word of the Report of the Tribunal on the Auditor-General and the Deputy Auditor-General, and I must say I am overwhelmed by many things. It’s available here for you to read on Sierralii: https://sierralii.gov.sl/articles/2024-05-01/leroy/report-of-the-tribunal-on-the-auditor-general-mrs-lara-taylor-pearce-and-the-deputy-auditor-general-mr-tamba-momoh
Firstly, the issue of the Tribunal has been a topic of debate by every politician, development partner, civil society organization, and media and of great importance to citizens. Many of us closely followed the Tribunal, and some of us even attended in person. I must thank the Chairperson Hon Mrs. Justice Nyawo Matturi Jones JSC (Rtd) and the other two members for an amazing proceeding, transparency in hearings, and the rather excellent, detailed, and easy to consume final report.
Secondly, I must thank H.E President Bio for doing three things: 1) following the constitution to set up an independent and credible Tribunal and not unconstitutionally removing the Auditor-General even though the government had pieces of evidence of misconduct and unprofessional behavior against them, ii) Allowing himself and his office to a scrutiny that many couldn’t have imagined for a Head of State. Some of the records pertained to personal medical and security details that should be otherwise highly classified, iii) releasing this Report presented to him for public consumption. This document will serve as a guide for generations to come. Its record taking, detailed reporting, mixed methods of both inquisitorial and adversarial legal systems, and the use of technical, local, and international experts are exemplary.
And now to the substance of my takeaways from consuming the report in whole (I am surprised indeed that I haven’t seen any intellectual or other opinions on the substance yet. I waited for it but alas, here’s mine).
1. Hypocrisy of Service. The Auditor-General and her deputy went to all odds to audit the President and his office (including breaching confidentiality) but failed and actively prohibited the auditing of Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyer’s Transform Freetown projects during the same period. Even after her Audit SL team indicated Madam Mayor and her team couldn’t produce records for projects, the Auditor-General and her Deputy refused to sanction the auditing of the mayor in detail (par 145-161). This level of double standards in service could only be attributed to witch hunting of the highest office of the land. In paragraph 253, in what the report says the “evidence remains uncontroverted and unchallenged” that the Auditor-General “refused to sign the letter of request to contact the other parties involved in the Projects” is almost unbelievable. Yet, the Auditor-General went on her own to find third-party information on the office of the President, which she didn’t share with anyone or verify.
2. Improper and unethical behavior. Now, as someone who has led an MDA for 6 years, I read every draft and final audit report of my institutions (and now, the entire report). I can proudly say that in all institutions I have led, at the time of audits and after, we have resolved all issues we could. One thing is clear, it is inappropriate for the Auditor-General to change a final draft audit presented at the exit interviews without reverting back to the auditors or the auditee. That’s plain and simply inappropriate. From records in the report, the Auditor-General and her Deputy singlehandedly changed the draft audit reports they received from their auditors to malign the office of the president (par 225-227). This is gross misconduct.
3. Conflict of interest and poor leadership. Now, the Deputy Auditor-General, while in active service to the government, was having a side hustle leading a private firm to deliver audit services to other public institutions? What? The Auditor-General, whose mandate to provide overall leadership of the institution, allowed this to happen repeatedly (par 121-128, 207-209). How is this ok?
Now, there are many other issues to take away and I can’t wait for the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Sierra Leone Bar Association and other bodies who closely followed this matter with great interest to share their views (I can only assume they are still reading the report but their silence is defeaning). As citizens, we want to hear from them.
For now, as Chief Minister, there are three out of the four recommendations (par 314) that I will pay great attention to.
1. The second recommendation is that the 2nd Respondent be removed from Audit Service Sierra Leone by the Audit Service Board Sierra Leone. It should be noted that apparently, the accused had submitted a resignation letter during the Tribunal. However, this couldn’t be honored by the Board then (you can’t resign during an investigation). My job is to ensure that Boards of government institutions deliver on their mandates.
2. The third recommendation is for the Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate both accused for their conduct of the 2020 Audit Report paying particular attention to the Office of the President and the Freetown City Council. The Transform Freetown project has been linked repeatedly to corruption (including repayment of funds by the FCC). This isn’t witch hunting but rather asking the ACC to look at the recommendations critically.
3. As someone closely involved with the ongoing constitutional review process, I will closely pay attention to fourth recommendation which speaks to the issue of reviewing the Constitution (Section 137) “with a view to providing an effective mechanism for the monitoring and disciplining of the Auditor-General”. This is well noted.
Let me end by inviting all Sierra Leoneans to keep staying involved with governance issues. However, as has been uncovered by this detailed, open, public, and transparent Tribunal, let’s not fall for some bad politicians who try to politicize everything. This was an issue of misconduct, unethical behavior, and abuse of office by public officials. Yet it was politicized and almost weaponized by some development partners. Let’s keep demanding more accountability, justice, and the rule of law and when we patiently wait for the appropriate bodies to investigate and provide us information we didn’t or couldn’t know, we move towards a more just society.
