By Kebba AF Touray
The Auditor General (AG) of the National Audit Office (NAO), Cherno Sowe, has revealed significant financial discrepancies in the Government of The Gambia’s 2021 audited accounts, including an understatement of Forty-Six Million Nine Hundred and Ninety-Six Thousand Two Hundred and Sixty-One Dalasi (D46,996,261.00) in revenue collected from quarrying royalties.
In his report, the AG noted, “I noted an understatement of mining royalties in the financial statements amounting to D46,996,261.00 for the period under review.” This revelation underscores gaps in revenue reporting and financial oversight within the mining sector.
The audit also identified irregularities related to redeemed or cancelled cheques. Cheques totaling D132,500, initially marked as cancelled or voided in the IFMIS system in 2021, were later cashed, as confirmed by the Transactions Monitoring Account (TMA) bank statement. The AG stated, “Management stated that these were reinstated in the financial statements. However, upon further review, I noted that the following payments have not been reinstated, and as such, the issue remains unresolved.”
Further discrepancies were noted under unreconciled items, with totals reaching D5,746,211,656.31 for receipts and D2,562,678,459.52 for payments, leading the AG to conclude that “the financial statements are misstated.”
Regarding transfers to sub-Treasury accounts with negative balances, the AG observed a payment recorded under Note 11 of the financial statements amounting to D2,837,848.82, classified as a liability. This classification, he explained, contributed to an understatement of expenditures reported in the same note.
The AG also highlighted differences in retained earnings, stating, “I noted differences amounting to D251,409,377.49 between the closing of 2020 and opening of 2021 of the retained earnings.”
Finally, the audit drew attention to uncleared transit accounts, which totaled D1,105,516,593.41, remaining uncleared from 2019 through the end of the 2021 financial year.
