Sierra Leone’s Finance Minister has declared that over a billion dollars of the state funds cannot be accounted for. This was uncovered by a technical audit into government transactions over a three-year period.
The minister, Jacob Jusu Saffa has no other term to describe the situation but has said that he believed that the unacounted funds have been “stolen” between 2015 and 2018.
The audit looked into the affairs of eleven state run entities including the national telecoms outfit and the ministry of works and public assets.
Audit experts from across the continent which includes Tanzania, Ghana, Kenya were invited to join their Sierra Leonean counterparts in the special assignment whose mandate involves the telecoms, roads, energy and security sectors.
This is somewhat a part fulfilment of the promise of President Julius Maada Bio who promised to step up the fight against corruption since he emerged as president last year.