By Bridgett Milton
Ex-President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s former Finance Minister Amara Konneh says the audit is not going anywhere because it has been politicized.
Speaking at a lecture series organized by AME University recently, Mr. Konneh said he understands that people can make mistakes, but the audit will help the head of the institution to improve on their mistakes.
Mr. Konneh noted that [before the Sirleaf era], there was no audit report in the archives, challenging anyone to prove him wrong.
Konneh said until the General Auditing Commission (GAC) was revamped and finance made available, no one could tell him that there was an audit record in the archives.
He stated that the first audit was done by then-Auditor General John Morlu.
However, Mr. Konneh argued that audit was not part of Liberia’s culture.
But he said because of their commitment to good governance, it became an important part of their government reconstruction.
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“The next thing you know audit reports became politicized and people became scared to either implement the Auditor General’s recommendations to fix the problem in those institutions,” said Mr. Konneh.
He recalled that the Ministry of Finance at that time was the only institution that submitted itself to an audit for all its years of service because it knew and understood the importance of audit.
The former Finance Minister recalled that during a cabinet meeting, former President Sirleaf told then Justice Minister Philip A.Z. Banks that there was too much noise about the audit report.
According to him, Mrs. Sirleaf had said she wanted to take action on them, but the Justice Ministry was not doing anything about it.
Mr. Konneh indicated that Mrs. Sirleaf complained that they were making her look bad, adding that she planned to do legislation to give power to the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC).
But Konneh claimed that the Justice Minister had opposed such a plan because she could not take their power and give it to another institution.
Konneh said what he thought Mrs. Sirleaf could have done was to pass an executive order on that.
He added that when you come to any institution, you should improve your reform based on your understanding of that institution, and then the structure will work.
Konneh noted that in every institution, you have to first understand the culture of that place before you talk about reform and do away with politics.
Konneh is a senatorial candidate for Gbarpolu County, the county where he was born.
For his part, the President of AME University Rev. Alvin E. Attah thanked the former Minister for accepting the invitation of his institution and providing knowledge to the instructions.
He said he looked up for more interaction with him.
