Government officials and public institutions appearing before Parliament to respond to audit questions touching on their ministries, departments and dockets will no longer be allowed to present additional documents as supporting evidence.
This follows new regulations set by the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee, which on Friday, April 5, 2024 said that it will no longer permit the reopening of audits by the introduction of new documents or evidence.
Committee chairperson John Mbadi in a statement said that all institutions and public officials will henceforth be required to present all relevant documents at the time of audits, and not during interrogations by the committee.
Mbadi said that PAC, as one of the Parliamentary oversight committees, will exclusively address audit queries as presented by the office of the Auditor-General.
“As members of the PAC, we have resolved that from the 2022/23 financial year, we will exclusively address the audit queries presented by the Auditor-General,” Mbadi said.
“We will not entertain attempts to reopen audits by introducing new documents or evidence that should have been submitted during the audit,” the nominated MP added.
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Mbadi also emphasized the need to establish a cutoff point for audits, urging responsible officials to furnish auditors with all necessary supporting documents during the audit process.
“Once auditors approach you, provide all the required documentation. It is unacceptable to withhold documents during the audit and then present them here. We are not auditors,” he said.
Members of the committee, at the same time, also pointed out a common practice among Principal Secretaries where they fail to provide essential documentation during audits then present extensive paperwork when responding to audit queries before the committee.
This decision was communicated during the review of the Auditor-General’s report on the accounts of the State Department for Medical Services for the fiscal year ending June 2022.
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