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GC holds Policy Dialogue on  “Mainstreaming Transparency and Accountability”

The Governance Commission on Tuesday April 28, 2015 held a one day Policy Dialogue on “Mainstreaming Transparency and Accountability in the Deconcentration Framework”.  The Dialogue was held in the James Fromoyan Conference room of the National Elections Commission, (NEC) in Sinkor.

The objectives of the deconcentration framework include:

  • To provide citizens with immediate quality services;

 

  • That the process embraces mechanisms that do not require long and elaborate processes of legal and political reforms; and

 

  • That service such as banks, salaries, marriage certificates, licensing, insurance and driver permits are provided without having to travel to Monrovia.

Governance Commission’s policy dialogue provided space for open, frank and fruitful discussions among stakeholders on the deconcentration framework. The dialogue, among other things, recommended an inclusive approach that assures transparency and accountability, and better collaboration, cooperation and coordination among all stakeholders in the deconcentration framework. The Policy Dialogue featured three panellists: Yusador Saadatu Gaye, the first female Auditor General (AG) of Liberia; Alexander Cuffey, Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Liberia; and Paul Collins, Director General of Liberia’s Internal Audit Agency (IAA).

Panellists noted that to achieve a successful deconcentration process, government will need to provide skill training to improve human capacity in rural Liberia, assure of an effective auditing system that considers putting in place the right controls and accounting systems before funds are disbursed to the counties.

The way forward:

Panelist Yusador Saadatu Gaye recommended that:

There must be annual audits to ensure that the system works while rules must be written and monitoring mechanisms functional to serve check and balance government’s activities and determine the whether the system is functioning as expected;  that it is imperative that those trained to work the system must be held accountable when they bridge written rules. Punishment should be meted out to those who violate the law.

 

Paul Collins

According to Mr. Collins, the Economic growth and national development can only be made possible if the internal auditing structure is incorporated into a deconcentration framework designed to curtail waste and abuse; In other words, that the IAA be mandated to serve at every stage of the deconcentration strategic and operational levels. He said in the deconcentration structure, the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission should be mandated to investigate and prosecute suspected cases of corruption and that more courts are established and lawyers hired to hear and prosecute cases, and more prisons built and equipped to accommodate convicted felons.

Yusador S. Gaye

Insuring transparency, accountability and a successful implementation of national policies at the local level requires capacity. The national government has capacity problems which is likely to filter down to the local level and considerably impact the output of personnel who administer the Service Centers and people in charge of documentation.  A look at most of our audits reveals that documentation is  often poor in the auditing process  thereby making it tedious and requiring months to complete instead of a couple of weeks.

She noted that the system must also consider the right controls and accounting systems before funds are disbursed to the counties.  She recommended annual audits to ensure that the system works while rules must be written and careful monitoring done to know whether the system is functioning.

“It is imperative that those trained to work the system must be held accountable when they fail to perform or bridge written rules. In short, there must be consequences for violators in terms of punishment. Further, the deconcentration framework must consider the bonding of fiscal officers, those who handle money, in order to mitigate loss to government and transfer risks of corruption to insurance companies.”

Alexander Cuffy

For his part, Mr. Cuffey noted that in setting up service centers, there must be systems for recording and reporting suspicious financial activities. He said criminal prosecutions must provide for the freezing of assets and their subsequent disposal upon conviction. He warned that deconcentration requires proper planning for successful implementation. Mr. Cuffey questioned the deconcentration framework in terms of systems of accountability, transparency, monitoring and evaluation. He noted that there needs to be a lot of funding for mainstreaming accountability into deconcentration architecture in order to put in place systems and train personnel to manage service centers in a manner that mitigates waste and corruption.