By William Madouk Garang
National accountability sectors’ work is severely curtailed due to low allocated budget which has not been disbursed to institutions, especially the National Audit Chamber said Amb. Stephen Wondu, the Auditor General.
According to Wondu, the National Audit Chamber (NAC) was supposed to receive their funding directly from consolidated fund as an independent entity rather than obtaining from national Ministry of Finance.
Ambassador Wondu disclosed the misery his institution undergoes during his remarks on Wednesday at the launching of National Audit Chamber Technical Working Documents and Chamber’s official website www.nac.gov.ss.
“But even the little [budget] we have been allocated is not disbursed to us. So, we suffer severely and we are curtailed from doing our work,” Wondu disclosed.
“Reference to the Revised National Chamber Act, we suggested that from the day it’s passed in the future not to distance future, the National Audit Chamber should like all audit offices around the world, be funded through consolidated fund directly so that it does not have to rely on Ministry of Finance,” he noted.
He stated that the Ministry of Finance was their main target of auditing and therefore it would be impossible for them to release the resources needed.
“The Ministry of Finance is our main target of auditing, how can you rely on such an institution to provide you the resources to audit them?” he questioned.
Mr. Wondu stressed that the National Audit Chamber must be an independent institution like other Audit Chambers worldwide with its own human resource policy so that it would not be linked with the Ministry of Public Service.
“These are two provisions which I would like you to look at very clearly and ensure that it’s not tampered with,” he underlined.
Meanwhile, Martin Odwar Lonuha, the deputy chairperson for specialized committee of Public Account in Revitalized Transitional National Legislative Assembly (R-TNLA) said the budget allocated for accountability sector institution was disappointing.
“Today, the budget was presented to the parliament, for us in the committee of public account we were among the most aggrieved people,” Lonuha said.
“Because our line institutions with whom we will work in accountability sector, I didn’t see the budget encouraging. It’s 2% of total fiscal year budget of the country,” he cited.
He emphasized that the accountability sector need to be allocated enough finances to enable them now to do their work and expose the corrupt officials in the system.
“Now it’s you, your work that will expose people who are said to be corrupt in the governance. Bring them to Parliament then the Parliament will scrutinize the report you have done and we will send where? We will send them to court. They will have to answer for what they have done,” Lonuha highlighted.