The Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs, has been faulted for spending US$43,918 (Le381,026,900) for unapproved overseas travelling expenses by the Auditor General.
The Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL) requested for payment vouchers (PVs) and supporting records in respect of all overseas travels to ascertain whether travelling costs were within the approved budget of the Ministry and whether they were approved by the Ministry of Finance.
According to them, the PVs and supporting records were submitted and during their review of selected transactions, they observed that the above stated amount was expended as daily subsistence allowance (DSA) and air ticket costs for overseas travels for which there was no evidence to indicate that the travels were cleared with the Ministry of Finance.
“This was contrary to the provision in Executive Order No. 2, issued on 25th April, 2018 which requires that all commitments by MDAs relating to overseas travelling including cost of tickets should be within their approved budgets and must be cleared with the Ministry of Finance to ensure they are cost-effective and within budgetary limits” the Auditor General said..
In their official response, the Permanent Secretary stated that there is no evidence as at the time of writing their response to confirm that the travels in question were cleared by the Ministry of Finance.
Even though the ASSL team received additional documents and from their reviews it indicated that overseas travelling which cost US$38,818 (Le309,536,900) of a total of US$43,918 (Le381,026,900) were still without evidence to indicate that the travels were cleared with the Ministry of Finance. “Therefore, the issue is partly resolved.”
ZJ/3/2/2021
By zainab.joaque@awokonewspaper.sl