Events

On February 15, 2021, The Finance and Public Accounts Committee (FPAC) of The Gambia National Assembly met for five days in Bintang to discuss the Auditor General’s Reports and Management Letters for the financial years 2016, 2017 and 2018. These reports were submitted and tabled at the National Assembly from February 2019 but were pending discussion.

The workshop was officially opened by the National Assembly Speaker and Chairperson of the FPAC committee, Honorable Mariama Jack-Denton, by observing a quorum of committee members present. During the opening, the Speaker recommended and urged the committee team to adopt this approach and ensure that a similar event is organized for the FPAC committee when the Auditor General’s submit reports to the National Assembly to facilitate discussion.

On the first day of the workshop, the Auditor General and Director of Ministries and Departments presented on the reports along with a brief introduction on complex and key auditing terms that will be used during the workshop. Following this, after the FPAC committee have had enough information towards the end of the workshop, they will draft a report which will be forwarded with key pending issues to the Accountant General’s Department for follow-up and action.

What the late discussion of reports means to the National Audit Office (NAO)

Since 2005, NAO has been working towards clearing the audit backlog of auditing previous years that were unaudited due to several factors including and most especially unpresented financial statements for auditing.

At the opening, the Auditor General, Karamba Touray, reminded the National Assembly Members (NAMs) that:

1. The timely discussion of the audit reports by the National Assembly will solve the issue of delays in publishing the reports for the public;
2. The delay in discussion of reports will affect the relevance of the reports and follow-up on recommendations made in these reports.

However, the Auditor General expressed that the National Audit Office is more concerned about the discussion of reports and having its recommendations implemented for more effective and sound public fund management in The Gambia.

What other factors are delaying NAO’s work on reporting on public resource management?

The NAO continues to engage key stakeholders such as the National Assembly and other strategic government partners to address the numerous challenges that we encounter throughout the audit process that lead to the delay in the different stages of completing our work.

Some of the challenges that the Auditor General brought to the attention of the NAMs included:

1. Difficulty of logistics in terms of auditing e.g the first interim COVID-19 audit report was due in February, however, there has been a delay in the auditing and report completion funds due to lack of mobility as NAO vehicles were being used by the Office of the President for the nation-wide presidential tours.
2. Non-disclosure of information from auditees requested by NAO during the audit process which prevents the NAO from proceeding with the auditing of these institutions.

At the end of the workshop, the FPAC Committee members were interested in:

• The highlighted discrepancies in the audit reports from previous audit years that were still pending as of 2021.
• Finding strategies as an oversight body to ensure that the NAO always have access to documents from institutions.