For the past five years Local Councils have continued to pay sitting fees and allowances to Councillors without guidelines. Audits into Local Council financial records for 2017 showed that over Le2 billion was paid despite recommendations from previous audit reports. Section 30(2) of the Local Government Act 2004 requires that the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, in consultation with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, issued guidelines to Councils with regards to the payment of any allowance or remuneration, but to date, no such guidelines have been issued. During the audit, 12 councils were faulted for paying Le1.5 billion as sitting fees and other allowances to Councillors who were absent from meetings and Le588.3 million was paid for which there was no evidence of meetings such as signed minutes or attendance registers. Councils that submitted evidence of meetings were: Kambia, Tonkolili, Freetown City, Bo and Pujehun District Councils. For payments to absentee councillors, audits identified, Koinadugu, Freetown, Western Area Rural, Kenema, Koidu New Sembehun, Kono and Kailahun District/City Councils. As at the end of the 2017 financial year, unpaid withholding tax amounted to Le173.9 million. This anomaly could lead to revenue loss for government as late payment of withholding tax is a violation of the Income Tax Act 2000 and could attract penalties. The Auditor General stressed that the amounts identified during the audits should be recovered and paid to the National Revenue Authority (NRA) and evidence of payment should be forwarded to her Office for verification, and the Commissioner of Income Tax should take the necessary action against Kambia, Koinadugu, Port Loko, Western Area Rural, Kenema, Koidu New Sembehun and Bonthe District/City Councils. A review of the Freetown City Council’s payroll revealed that PAYE deducted from staff salaries totalled Le146 million (Le146,561,727) during 2017 was not paid to the NRA as evidence of payment such as receipts and bank deposit slips was not submitted to the audit team for verification. National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT) contributions for staff of Kambia, Port Loko, Kenema, Bo and Bonthe Councils were not paid, as it was observed that NASSIT deductions of Le428 million from salaries of core staff were not paid over to NASSIT. The failure to pay over the amounts withheld from employees’ salaries, the Auditors said would adversely affect the processing of their retirement benefits when they are due. The retirement benefits of staff will also be seriously affected as retired workers will not be able to get their correct terminal benefit packages and pensions, hence Council would risk being sanctioned for not complying with NASSIT regulations.
ZJ/22/1/19
By Zainab Iyamide Joaque
Wednesday January 23, 2019.