By Ousman Saidykhan
The National Audit Office has “clarified” allegations of professional misconduct in a petition by Nuha Ceesay against its leadership as “false.”
The UK-based Gambian wants the National Assembly’s Committee on Public Petitions (CPP) to launch an investigation into what he called “professional misconduct and impropriety” involving the Auditor General and the leadership of the National Audit Office (NAO).
“It is the position of the NAO that the false assertions of the petitioner were ignited by the discourse on the said draft Bill [The NAO Draft Bill 2024, which is aimed at enhancing the independence of the AG and governance of the NAO], which is assumed to be a new Bill.
“We are aware of a WhatsApp group created by a group of accountants to discuss the contents of the said draft Bill where the said petitioner first shared his allegations,” NAO said in a statement.
According to the petitioner, the allegations of professional misconduct emerged from research he had conducted on how “top” civil servants manage their institutions and its impact on the lives and livelihoods of Gambians and residents. But the NAO said they were not contacted by anyone for any research.
“First and foremost, it should be clarified that neither the NAO leadership nor its communication unit was contacted or received a request for information related to the research claimed by the petitioner,” the institution said in a press statement.
The NAO said after going through “strategic” reforms, it began prioritising professionalization of staff, strengthening bilateral relations and Technical Assistance from other Supreme Audit Institutions “SAIs” with advanced public sector auditing such as Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana.
“Regarding the travel to the U.S. for a conference on internal audit, the conference was attended by the AG and NAO’s Senior Internal Audit Manager – NAO like any other public institution has an internal audit unit as part of its governance structure. It is important to note that the NAO officials paid the lowest participation fee of $1,685 compared to other public institutions that paid $2,565.
“The AG had a meeting with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) during this trip as part of collaborative talks that began in May during the AFROSAI-E Governing board meeting of AGs in Uganda. The purpose of the meeting was highlighted on our social media and has led to the AG meeting with the U.S. Ambassador to explore opportunities for support from the GAO and the U.S. Embassy. The allegations about payment of per diem for vacation days are false, and there is evidence to show that the AG used his funds for the 5 days of leave he took,” said NAO.
On allegations of lack of transparency and due process in the appointment of Mr Baboucarr Ceesay Ms Yamundow Gai, the NAO debunked them and said there was a recruitment committee that conducted interviews and assessments and made recommendations to the AG.
“Yamundow Gai’s application was received before the GRTS audit and as a result, her offer of appointment was only released after the report on GRTS was released and not before. In addition, it can be proven that both directors have the necessary qualifications for the positions they have been appointed for,” it said.
