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Mrs. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
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The Chairman of Governance Reform Commission (GRC), Mrs. Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf, is calling on the Auditor-General of Liberia to make public, audit
report of the National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL) travel
account from January through April 2004.
GRC’s boss made the request recently when she presented the Commission’s
second quarterly report to the National Transitional Legislative Assembly
(NTLA) at the Capitol Building. She said although the account is a public
one, the public does not and may never know about the findings of such audit,
especially in midst of the Auditing Bureau’s complacency to give the
report.
The GRC Report indicated that the findings of the audit will determine the
public needs in terms of basic social services for the people.
It can be recalled that the NTGL Chairman Charles Gyude Bryant some times
ago mandated the Auditor-General of Liberia to audit the government’s
travel account, but since then the outcome of said audit is yet to be made
public, especially with the continuous accusation of huge spending of travel
allowances by government.
Consequently, the GRC report suggested that in order to protect the public
interest and enhance accountability in government, the National Legislative
should repeal the 1972 law and subsequently enact appropriate legislations
consistent with the Liberian Constitution to make the General Auditing Bureau
autonomous which will report directly to the National Legislature.
According to GRC Report, the existing law on audit of government account
violates the intent and spirit of the constitution which established the
General Auditing Bureau. Additionally, the Report outlined that the lessons
gathered from past experience have shown that exposure of acts of violation
of the public trust in the use of public resources can make a major contribution
to efforts in addressing corruption in the society.
Constitutionally, it is biding on the Auditor-General to make an annual
report on the activities of the General Auditing Office, including the results
of all audits conducted.
