President Joseph Nyuma Boakai has directed the General Auditing Commission (GAC) to conduct a comprehensive audit of three key government institutions, including the Central Bank of Liberia, the National Security Agency (NSA), and the Executive Protection Service (EPS), according to an Executive Mansion release.
The Executive Mansion quotes President Boakai as saying in a communication to the GAC, requests that the audit covers the period between 2018 and 2023 and that the findings be reported in three months.
The audit period spans the six-year stewardship of the erstwhile government, which President Boakai promised to audit as President.
The audit of the three institutions marks the beginning of a holistic audit of government ministries and agencies in keeping with the President’s commitment to fighting corruption as well as ensuring transparency and accountability in the governance of the country.
President Boakai at different public engagements, most notably, the campaign period, the inaugural address, and the annual message committed and recommitted to ensuring that a comprehensive audit of the previous government is done.
During his Annual Message, President Boakai announced that what his predecessor reported on the state of the country’s financial standing at the CBL was far from reality based on documentary records and re-emphasized the need to audit the CBL and other agencies.
“The net international reserves position reported at the end of December 2023 was US$220 million. The report of US $40 million as the GoL’s consolidated account balance as at January 19, 2024, is not supported by the fact. The balance reported by the CBL as of the same date was US$20.5 million, highly encumbered, NOT US$40 million,” President Boakai announced during the Annual Message.
He furthered that “to this end, we re-emphasize our earlier commitment to audit and ensure that regular audits will be a culture across all branches of government, not only the Executive.”
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It will also be the first time in years that the EPS and NSA, two security entities that receive budgetary allocations, are being audited.
