By: Kebba AF Touray
The Gambia’s Judicial Secretary, Mr. Abdou Conteh, has described the misunderstanding between the Judiciary, Finance and Public Accounts Committee (FPAC) and National Audit Office (NAO) as Res-Judicata.
This, he said, connotes that the matter as far as the Judiciary is concerned is resolved, it is res-judicata and that the Judiciary does not want to go back on the issue.
He made these explanations on Wednesday, 24th April, 2024, during their appearance before FPAC, for the submission of their financial reports to NAO for auditing.
The interface was for the tripartite entities to have discussions on the impasse between the Judiciary and the National Audit Office on the submission of their audited financial statements 2016 to 2023, to the Auditor General’s Office for auditing.
He explained that they have issued a press release and there have been reactions on that release by FPAC and NAO, and the Honorable Chief Justice, who is the head of the Judiciary, has instructed him not to be engaged in any war of words with the National Assembly, as these two institutions cannot operate in isolation.
He explained that immediately the letter from FPAC was brought to his attention, he convened a meeting including senior members of the Judiciary and in the case of a Judge of the High Court “we have looked at the letter and there was no date stated in the letter, but attached to the letter was a schedule.”
According to Conteh, the way they interpreted the schedule was that they should appear on the 24th instead of 18th April, 2024 and recalled that when he got in contact with the Clerk of the Committee, he explained their situation to the Clerk of FPAC that the committee has not made preparation for them to appear on the 24th.
This matter, he added, was extensively discussed with the Clerk of the Committee, and drew a conclusion that the Judiciary should appear on the 24th and not the 18th, saying “This is the only reason why we did not appear on the 18th”.
“This is the only reason why we have not appeared on the 18th. Apart from that there is no hidden agenda why we did not appear on the 18th,” he informed FPAC.
He however, told FPAC that in their letter conveying the audit reports from Jan 2011 to June 2019, they have communicated that they have commenced the preparation of the requested information required from them and, currently, they are in the process of compiling that information.
He told FPAC: “We may ask for extension of time within which we would be able to compile that information and submit to this august committee.”
The Financial Controller at the Judiciary, Fatou Jarra Houma, informed FPAC that since decentralization, the Judiciary has been audited every five years by the NAO. “We have proof of the first audit which was done from 2008-2013 then from 2014-2019, and we have a report of all these,” she explained.
She added that even the courts of the judiciary were also audited, and they have audit reports from the Banjul Magistrates Court and the latest report dates from 2020- September, 2021, for Basse Magistrates Court for the period 1st April, 2017-31st December, 2019, Essau Magistrates Court from January 2018-December 2019.
“So, the general report from the Judiciary we had from 2011- 2019 June and our responses. So, deem it necessary to ask permission instead of presenting reports back to 2016, which has been already audited and included in the report of 2019, we are seeking permission to start from June, 2019 to 31st December, 2023,” she said.
The Auditor General, Modou Ceesay, explained that the resolution of FPAC came in November, 2023 and has some information about the status of the account of the Judiciary, in terms of audited financial statements and reports to be sent to the NAO for audit of the financial statements.
“As far as the NAO is concerned, the judiciary’s audits were transactional audits, and not financial statement audit, and to my knowledge this august committee requires financial statements, auditing opinions, signed financial statements, activity reports, budget and other information, to be presented and scrutinized by FPAC,” he said.
He said that as far as those requirements are concerned, the judiciary has never met these requirements, not before 2018 and not in the 2019 period audit, and reiterated that they are transactional audits that opinions are expressed on those accounts.
He further clarified, “The accounts bring out internal control deficiencies that are addressed to the management in the form of management letters, and those issues are responded to by the relevant management at the time.”
He cited that as far as the Constitution is concerned, section 144 (1) talks about the establishment of the Judiciary as a self-accounting status, but the section as stipulated in section 161, the annual accounts of all government departments, is sub-vented institutions.
He stated including non-subvented institutions, autonomous and semi-autonomous and Central Government, as far as public funds are paid to those entities, they are required to prepare accounts and submit it to the Auditor General for audit.
“We are clarifying that the obligations on the judiciary to prepare a set of financial statements, are submitted to auditors for the auditors to look at those individual statements and do thesis, confirmations and other methodological processes, applied on those financial statements to make an opinion on those financial statements,” said AG Ceesay.
Earlier reading the letter addressed to the National Assembly from the Judiciary, Hon. Alhagie S Darboe, chairman of FPAC, said that the judiciary in the letter indicated that since it is only autonomous in the dispensation of justice, its administrative and financial operations (Main Accounts and Sheriff Division) still form part of the consolidated annual transaction audits of central government under the Accountant General.
“Currently, samples of transactions are being sent to the Accountant General Department for the ongoing audit of year 2022, as well as auditors visiting the office for clarifications,” he said while reading the Judiciary’s letter.
He went on to say that the letter indicated that with the National Assembly resolution, the judiciary acquired the financial statement format from the Accountant General Department, in order to report on unaudited periods of July, 2019 to December, 2023.
After consultations during the interface, the committee has resolved that the Judiciary has up to 120 days to prepare their reports, meaning that by September, 2024, the Judiciary should prepare their 2016 to 2023 reports and present them to NAO for audit.
