Auditor General (AG), Deodat Sharma is concerned about the government’s “lack of action” towards the implementation of recommendations that his office has made in prior years.
In his 2018 report, the AG noted that each year, his office issues recommendations to ministries, departments, and regions that are designed at improving systems and practices at these entities and improving the governance and accountability mechanisms.
Some 454 recommendations were made in his 2017 Audit Report. However, the AG noted that at the time of reporting in September 2019, 110 or 24% were fully implemented, 116 or 26% were partially implemented, while 228 or 50% were not implemented.
“Overall, I am concerned with the lack of action towards the implementation of these recommendations; since, 76% of the recommendations have not yet been fully implemented,” the official noted.
In addition, Sharma pointed out that in many instances, recommendations are repeated each year without appropriate action, and as a result, weaknesses and issues that impacted negatively on governance and accountability mechanisms continue to occur.
The AG, in the report, called on the government to correct its footing.
“Once again, I encourage the Government, through the Ministry of Finance, the Accountant General’s Department and the respective Heads of Budget Agencies to take appropriate actions and put measures in place to address these recommendations,” he noted.
