Monrovia – Members of the House of Representatives have failed to come to term in dealing with scores of audit reports submitted by the General Auditing Commission to the Legislature through its Public Accounts Committee.
Report by Gerald C. Koinyeneh – [email protected]
The action of the lawmakers prompted the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Bhofal Chambers to cease a motion calling for urgent attention to be given to the audit reports.
Speaker Chambers told plenary his leadership will come up with a decision on the issue in due course.
The motion was contained in a communication sent to the Speaker by Lofa County District #1 Representative Francis Sakila Nyumalin on Tuesday, March 18 during the 18th day setting of the 1st session of the 54th Legislature.
The Lofa County lawmaker craved the indulgence of plenary to urgently review the audit reports or “be discharged from committee room and turned over to an ad hoc committee for expediency and prudence.”
Rep Nyumalin, who is the Chairman of the House Committee on Contracts and Monopoly, noted that the failure of the House to review the GAC audit reports is causing those indicted by the reports to continue to go with impunity.
“Consequently and amazingly, over 100 audits have been conducted and reports of same subsequently submitted to the national legislature through the public accounts committee; but to date several of said reports remain unattended to, thereby leaving the accused auditees masquerading the corridors of Mama Liberia with gross unprecedented impunity.”
He continued in his communication: “Against this back drop and in an endeavor to intensify the fight against this national enemy, corruption, and reduce the negative perception that is being perpetrated against the legislature, the pending hearing on the rest of the report should be conducted with urgency or the reports be discharged from committee room and turned over to an ac hoc committee for expediency and prudence.”
Taking the floor to further plea his case, the Lofa County Lawmaker reminded his colleagues that the GAC, like other anti-graft institutions was established or reactivated to strengthen Liberia’s young democracy and fight corruption, which many believed to be the cause of the 14-year long civil war and before it the bloody coup of 1980.
Meanwhile, the lawmakers proffered several options to find an amicable way to address their colleague’s concern but were unsuccessful.
Some, including Rep. Ben Fofana, suggested that a specialized committee should be set up to review the audit reports while others called for the repealing of the clause that exempts individuals indicted seven years after an unattended audit report.