Officials From The Office of The Vice President
By Ramatoulie Jawo
The Office of the Vice President appeared before the National Assembly’s Finance and Public Accounts Committee (FPAC) on Wednesday to update the committee on pending resolutions from September 29, 2022, and September 14, 2023.
Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Office of the Vice President, Mr. Ousman Ceesay, reported that all matters flagged in the audit report and recommended for police investigation have been forwarded to the Inspector General of Police, who is currently conducting investigations.
Mr. Ceesay explained, “We received only one complete report regarding the Covid-19 fund on NDMA and the matter was sent to the Ministry of Justice for legal advice. The other aspects regarding the audited accounts for central government responses, some are being shared with the parliament and others from what we are made to understand are closely working with parliament like the Account General among others.”
He noted that no feedback had yet been received from the Attorney General’s office on certain aspects of the audit.
“Our expectation was after the presentation we could have a session wherein we will go through some of the answers regarding those institutions, and we will be able to know who has done what and when.
Mr. Ceesay further informed the committee of the delayed response regarding a list of government projects requested by the National Assembly. He stated that the Office of the Vice President had reached out to all government institutions to submit their project lists, but has yet to confirm if submissions have been made.
Committee Chair Hon. Alhagie S. Darboe emphasized the importance of comprehensive feedback, highlighting insufficient updates from various institutions, including the police.
“Even the ones that are under investigation, the feedback we received from the police is still insufficient. If you are to give a report, you should be able to provide actions you have taken against those institutions found wanting by breaking down all developments surrounding the resolution where actions are taken and not,”he said.
Hon. Darboe pointed out that where actions have not been taken, follow-up should have occurred after two to three months to assess the status of those resolutions and to proceed accordingly.
Committee member Hon. Kebba Lang Fofana stressed that the Office of the Vice President should take an overarching role in providing feedback on all resolution points.“The resolutions now it’s not a point of highlighting what is done and not done. We are supposed to receive the full report which will have served as a baseline for this assembly to triangulate it against any feedback received from those individual institutions. The individual institutions would concentrate on the resolution points that affect their respective ministries, departments or agencies while the Office of the VP will concentrate on all of them as their oversight,”he said.
Mr. Ceesay stated that their challenge lies in ensuring effective communication between the National Assembly and relevant institutions regarding resolutions that require coordination. He noted that they aim to establish a clear framework, as some resolutions presented by the vice president at the plenary have been implemented, but there are still issues, such as COVID-19 fund reports, that need further follow-up.
“If we have the responsibility of having the overall coordination by having one line of reporting, that will be easier for us so that we will take the ultimate responsibility to provide you with a full report,”he said.
Mr. Ceesay concluded by requesting that the session be rescheduled to allow him to gather sufficient information and provide a more detailed update to the committee.