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Sudan Tribune

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GOSS official warns against leniency on internal financial reports

By Ngor Arol Garang

June 5, 2010 (TURALEI) — A key official in the regional Government of Southern Sudan(GOSS) has warned of punitive action against senior administrators who fail to respond to internal queries and monitor effective use of public resources.

Salvatore Garang Mabior, First Undersecretary in the regional Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has in an official circular extended to Sudan Tribune, on Saturday, urged that the continued allegations of mishandling of funds by public officers is not a result of the absence of financial systems, but rather the inability of some controlling officers to diligently implement existing financial management systems to enforce existing financial rules and regulations.

In recent times, whenever a financial report is released, it has been a litany of public resource, mismanagement and frequent outright theft. This picture is not only in the internal financial report alone but often in the media and it is not surprising that the general view of the public is that no systems exist in the government to guarantee financial accountability.

“The perception is that if any systems exist, then they must be extremely weak or porous or both. But from my knowledge of the public service, I do not agree with this because all systems are in place but the lack of monitoring systems by those charged with this responsibility,” he said.

He added that all undersecretaries and director generals for administration and finances should desist from delegating duties to juniors as this has the potentials to weaken the monitoring systems.

“The controlling officers should take full charge of their ministries;” he said, adding that the government has effective accounting systems and manpower, adding that this is the reason why internal auditors are able to detect misuse.

He said the Public Finance Act of 2009 and the financial regulations provide clear guidance to the public servants who manage the financial systems.

He further stressed that ministers and undersecretaries should strive to effectively respond to internal audit queries and the controlling officers should be quick to respond. In most cases, senior officials are too relaxed to respond to internal audit queries until the queries are spotted by the Auditor-General and they have to face the committee.

He said the creation of audit committees to support audit functions is an important policy response to address weaknesses identified and they should be recognized as an important part of modern control structures and good governance practices.

(ST)

7 Comments

  • Angelo Ajiech Manyuat
    Angelo Ajiech Manyuat

    GOSS official warns against leniency on internal financial reports
    That’s true Hon. Salvatore Garang Mabior. The GOSS should speed up after all this years to make sure that the public funds are used effectively & wisely. Thus, mismanagement of public funds by the GOSS Officials especially some dishonest officials is worst to note. As a matter of fact, the way the government handle the public funds is really lacking international standard and that we’re hoping this time that the new government should come up with a new system or regulations that subsidy finance officials to clear that mess. Although most government officials are not faithful in their job, perhaps some are really deploring the system. Last and not the least, we are always yearning to have our own country while the majority of the GOSS officials are incompetence due to lack of experiences and qualifications.

    Reply
  • Adam
    Adam

    GOSS official warns against leniency on internal financial reports
    Dear readers,

    The news is circulating that the GoSS is starting an air force with American training and equipment! This is a clear evidence that SPLM is working against unity of the country and even the South itself.

    See how SPLM behaves in direct violation of the CPA that provided it the South in a golden dish! When the great leader, the late Dr. Garang signed the CPA in 2005, SPLA was in control of only few isolated zones in the South.

    Instead of working hard to build roads and bridges, hospitals, schools, universities and huge residential areas to accommodate million of displaced and refugee Southerners exodus from the North and near-by countries, when the South is declared an independent state, the GoSS seeks to develop and modernize SPLA and spend millions of dollars to purchase war planes (USA will not give that for free).

    How GoSS will provide jobs, education, healthcare or even a mere hope to the returnees? This proves that SPLM is having bad intentions on the future of the Sudan and the South at the same time. This explicitly reveals that the separatists are totally out of mind. The real rulers of the new South State will be the tyrant Museveni and the wounded Kenya of Mr. Odinga – not SPLM.

    Is having an air force is a priority at this point of time when people are dying of starvation and disease? Is building infrastructure in all the 10 states a priority in the thinking of separatists? Can one of them justify?

    Some of them may say that we must have good army and weapons to defend our motherland. What land they are talking about? A motherland with all the nightmares we all know and experience every minute? The land without people is like the moon – beautiful but dead.

    Adam Milawaki, Kansas City

    Reply
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