By Ralph Simeon Sesay
The Auditor at the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources, who testified at the Justice Biobele Commissions of Inquiry, has exposed failings at the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources since 2010 to date.
Led in evidence by the counsels on behalf of the state, the Mines and Mineral Resources Auditor noted that, upon taking over at the Ministry from his predecessors, he developed a flexible work plan which was later approved by the then Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Fatmata Mustapha.
The witness recounted that, because most of the functions of the ministry were diverted to the National Minerals Agency, their roles as auditors were only limited to auditing the accountants, Offices of the Permanent Secretary and the Human Resources.
He disclosed that their responsibilities include conducting internal audits into the operations of the ministry and following up on recommendations of respective audits report as they relate to the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Resources. He later presented six various audit reports between November 2010 and February, 2017 marked as Exhibi P5.
The respective audit reports, which were read in detailed at the Commission, have exposed a number of personnel and human resource failings at the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Resources, ranging from discovery of deceased persons and people/workers due for retirement in payroll, payment of workers below the minimum wage, workers not signing in and out of works, etc.
A particular audit report, which was dated 30th October, 2019 and done by Mrs. Abibatu K. Koroma, discovered that the ministry has failed to go by Section 56 of the Public Procurement with regards the awarding of contracts for the supply of office furniture to the National Minerals Agency. It does so by giving the contract to the second lowest bidder instead of the lowest.
The Audit report, among other things, have noted that it was difficult to prove whether the procurement process for the NMA office furniture was transparent and complied with basic rules on the use of donor funds.
The report was about the utilization and management of funds in the Extractive Industries Technica and Assistance Projects.
The witness has clearly exposed serious irregularities as they relate to personnel and human resource failings that have largely accounted for the inefficiency of the ministry.
Sierra Leone’s mineral sector has failed to boost the country’s ailing economy in the recent past, which has been largely due to mismanagement and corruption in the sector. Most famous and notable mining agreements, between government and multinational organizations, like the African Minerals and the Koidu Holdings, have been shrouded in secrecy. Residents of mining communities are living in abject poverty even though the companies claimed to be paying royalties and other development taxes to government for the development of these communities.
The new government is strengthening transparency and accountability in the sector through the Extractive Industries Transparency International, which they inherited from the previous regime. Government and the agencies involved in the sector are expected to continuously generate reforms of our laws and processes to engender increased transparency over funds accrued from the sector.
There is a commitment to roll out the Beneficial Ownership by the new administration by January 2020. This means shareholders of over 5% in mining companies should disclose their shares to the respective countries where the projects are located.