Liberia: Internal Audit Agency Deployed at Ministry of State for the First Time Since Agency's Establishment - FrontPageAfrica

Source: Front Page Africa
Author: Gerald C. Koinyeneh

Monrovia, Liberia - The Office of the President of Liberia has for the first time ever, invited the Internal Audit Agency and approved the deployment of an internal auditor from (IAA), who will supervise, direct and control all internal audit activities at the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs.

By Edwin G. Genoway, Jr(231886458910)[email protected]

According to an internal Memorandum in the possession of this paper, under the signature of Atty. Cornelia Kruah-Togba, Deputy Minister for Administration at the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs, the Internal Audit Agency Staff will commence duties effective Monday, June 10, 2024.

The memorandum further requires heads of departments at the Ministry to accord the internal auditor all required courtesy in the discharge of official duties.

Credible sources close to the Ministry of State have indicated that this is the first time that the Office of the President is accepting an internal auditor to be deployed, since the establishment of the Internal Audit Agency in September 2013.

FrontPageAfrica has been further informed that though efforts were made under previous governments to have internal auditors assigned at the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs, those efforts yielded no fruitful results.

Part 2 section 2.2 (a) of the IAA Act of 2013 mandates the IAA to establish and direct internal audit functions within all branches of Government including the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary; and all public sector entities such as, public corporations, autonomous agencies, autonomous commissions, Government ministries and the Central Bank of Liberia.

Predicated on the Act, pundits have considered such acceptance of the IAA auditor as a demonstration of political will by President Boakai to lead by example in ensuring that the daily processes and transactional activities of the Ministry of State, which houses the Office of the President, remains in full compliance with relevant laws.

According to our sources who prefer anonymity, this decision by the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs has set the basis for other government institutions to begin embracing the presence of the Internal Audit Agency in order to help prevent wastes and abuse of public resources.

Our investigation has unearthed that a good number of public corporations and State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) are either resisting the presence of the IAA auditors or are establishing Departments to perform similar functions as the IAA, which run in direct contravention of the law.

It has been further established that discussions are ongoing at the both houses of the National Legislature for the deployment of IAA Auditors.

It can be recalled that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, in an interview recently, informed the public that it has commissioned an audit by the General Auditing Commission (GAC) in order to put in place proper systems before allowing the deployment of internal auditors at the first branch of government.

Many are hopeful that it will come to fruition so as to guarantee transparency and accountability at the first branch of government.

Therefore, that President Joseph Nyuma Boakai has now set the tone at the top by demonstrating his commitment to strengthening compliance in the public sector, it is expected that all other public entities will follow the President's good example or bear the consequences of their inactions.