The Auditor-General of Sierra Leone together with his team, recently paid a courtesy call on the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice at his Guma Building Office, Lamina Sankoh Street, Freetown.
Mr. Alpha Sesay, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice warmly welcomed the ASSL team and congratulated Mr. Abdul Aziz on his well-deserved appointment as Auditor-General of Sierra Leone. He expressed confidence in his expertise to manage the helm of affairs at the ASSL, particularly having manned the office in recent times in an acting capacity.
In response, Mr. Aziz stated that the purpose of his visit was to extend his appreciation the Minister of Justice and his ministry for the support given to the ASSL during the formulation of its recently enacted Audit Service Regulations, 2024. He added that the ASSL would continue to engage the Ministry of Justice on legal issues as it continues to exercise its mandate as the Supreme Audit Institution of Sierra Leone. He added that the ASSL will continue to audit the operations of the Ministry of Justice and encouraged the implementation of audit recommendations.
In reaction, the Attorney-General thanked the Auditor-General for the courtesy visit, and then endeavoured to highlight current in-roads being undertaken by the Ministry of Justice. Mr. Sesay mentioned that under the Justice Sector Reform Strategy, several measures have been formulated to enhance justice delivery mechanisms which includes: digitalization of justice programs (e-justice reforms), implementation of provisions in the recently enacted Criminal Procedure Act, effective management of justice sector institutions/ programs, and financial robustness of the sector and human resources capacity building initiatives.
The Attorney-General added that in all of the above, the ASSL through its audit oversight will support in assessing the impact, effectiveness, efficiency and economy of the proposed interventions. Mr. Seay added that the ASSL’s support to the Ministry of Justice in promoting these reforms would contribute towards overall effectiveness of the justice sector, increased access to justice, accountability and good governance.
The Auditor- General committed the support of the ASSL to the highlighted proposed reforms in the justice sector. He added that he will brief his auditors of the minster’s request and that they would provide adequate oversight support when the need arises.
Mr Selvin Bell, Deputy Auditor-General, then briefed the Attorney-General on the current measures being taken by the ASSL to implement the legislative provisions on disallowance and surcharge as provided by the Audit Service Act, 2014 (as amended in 2023), the Local Government Act, 2022 and the Public Financial Management Act, 2016.
Ms. Kadijatu Zainab Bangura, ASSL’s Legal Manager thanked the Attorney-General for the instrumental role he played during the formulation of the Audit Service Regulations. She reminded the team of the prior engagement for the conduct of proposed programs by the institution. She encouraged both the Attorney-General and the Auditor-General to reignite those discussions that would lead to future collaboration on programs that would benefit their respective mandates.
The meeting came to a close after the head of both entities committed to continue the collaboration as provided under their respective mandates.
