By Thomas Dixon
FREETOWN, Jan. 26 (SALONE TIMES) – It is ironical that while President Bio keeps on travelling in the name of rebranding the country his country while his actions back home are giving bad name to the country.
This is true over the suspension of the country’s Auditor General by the president which many people have described as unprecedented and illegal.
As such, the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institution (INTOSAI) community stated that they learnt with great surprise and concern that the Auditor General of Sierra Leone, Mrs. Lara Taylor-Pearce and her Deputy, Mr. Tamba Momoh have been put on indefinite suspension without disclosure of the motives.
They revealed that the existence of an independent Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) and its protection from undue Executive interference is a key element of democracy and adherence to the Rule of Law referencing the United Nations General Assembly in its 69th Session (A/RES/69/228) which recognizing the key role of SAIs in the promotion of accountability and stressed that SAIs can only accomplish their tasks objectively if they are independent and protected against outside influence.
That The Mexico Declaration on SAI Independence (INTOSAI P-10), which is the benchmark on SAI Independence and establishes essential requirements of proper public sector auditing, postulates that the Head of a SAI should benefit from security of tenure and legal immunity in the normal discharge of their duties.
They noted that the suspension decision, as well as its timing, has drawn major criticisms from diagonal accountability actors (CSOs and media) locally and internationally, who questioned the constitutionality as well as the opportunistic timing of the decision.
“In addition to those concerns, we would like to stress that this decision may negatively affect the Audit Services’ ability to perform its accountability function without fearing retaliation and/or repercussions. This may ultimately hinder the SAI’s ability to freely decide on the content and timing of its audit reports, as encapsulated in principle 6 of the Mexico Declaration on SAI Independence,” they noted.
That Mrs. Taylor-Pearce is a renowned member of the INTOSAI community and that Her leadership qualities, integrity and professionalism are globally recognized and have led to her occupying prominent positions in the community for which she currently serves as the Chairperson of the African Organization of English-speaking Supreme Audit Institutions (AFROSAI-E), and as Vice-Chair on the Board of the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) pointing out that her reputation extends well beyond the INTOSAI’s community and she has been the recipient of several awards in recognition of her work.
That supporting the independence of SAIs is one of the crosscutting priorities of INTOSAI’s current Strategic Plan 2017 -2022 and a fundamental principle of INTOSAI and that the suspension of Mrs. Taylor-Pearce, a renowned member of INTOSAI, is contradictory to the international principles and standards regarding the independence of SAIs to which INTOSAI commits itself.
They called for the annulment of the suspension of Mrs. Taylor-Pearce and her Deputy Mr. Tamba Momoh.
