By Alpha Abu
The University of Sierra Leone (USL) has been cleared of any wrong doing by the Anti- Corruption Commission (ACC) with regards to investigations the Commission launched following the release by the Accountant General’s Office of Audit Reports for the period 2015-2018.
A recent statement from the ACC said probing was conducted with a view to prosecuting or recovering public funds, public revenue or public property as mandated by the anti-corruption Act of 2008.
The Commission’s intervention focused on loans received by the University Secretariat from its constituent colleges and how they were expended. Particular attention was given to Ex Gratia Payments, Contract Gratuities, Leave Allowance, Imprest, Funds Transfer, Admissions and Investment Certificates.
The ACC statement detailed the amounts received by the university secretariat and how monies were spent for each category listed. On the Ex Gratia Payments normally paid as End of Service benefit to staff when they resign or die, the Commission claimed to have established that “all the people that received this benefit were indeed deserving persons”, and of having “verified that the calculations of service, and that the tax associated with these payments were correctly deducted and paid to the National Revenue Authority”. It was also acknowledged that contractual staff received their annual gratuities that were also correctly calculated and in accordance with the University’s Terms and Conditions of Service.
USL’s disbursement of leave allowances to staff involved the huge sum of Nine Billion, Six Hundred and Sixty One Million, Sixty Five Thousand, Six Hundred and Seventy Eight Leones, and Seventy three Cents (Le9,661,065,678.73), to which the anti-graft body acknowledged that leave allowances paid in 2016 were “accurately calculated and accordingly paid to staff”.
ACC also noted that Imprest “granted to the executing unit/department/staff were properly and accurately retired”. The Commission said it also found no issue with Money Transfers and was able to establish that “the movement of funds in the various Bank Accounts was verified to be true and correct”.
The University Secretariat was given a clean bill of health on Admissions and Investment and for the latter, the Commission found out that the investment on Treasury Bearer Bonds was done over the years and that the investment had been rolled over ‘’until in 2017 when the Secretariat disinvested the fund(s) and used them for operational activities’’.
To emphasize its approval of the conduct of the USL Secretariat, the Commission stated: “The investigation revealed that there is no evidence for misappropriation of the University’s funds and all the documents (original copies) which were not provided to the Auditors in 2016 were subsequently made available in 2017 Audit and to the Commission. Accordingly, the ACC has closed the file’’.
The Commission however made a number of recommendations, including for the authorities to put in place proper governance structures that would ensure that “funds received from colleges and courses are not seen, or treated as loans’’, in cognizance of the fact that ‘’constituent colleges and USL are one entity in accounting terms.
The Commission took note of the arrangement that was in place that saw the constituent colleges give loans from generated incomes to the University Secretariat as a result of reported delays in receiving government subventions or insufficient funds to cover expenses like salaries, leave allowances and other costs. The University of Sierra Leone comprises Fourah Bay College, Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM) and College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS).
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