Accountant General Says D2.4 Million in Government Loans Has Been Recovered, Pending Audit Verification

By Fatou Sillah

The Accountant General told lawmakers on Monday that more than D2.4 million in previously unrecovered government loans has now been fully repaid, though auditors said they have yet to receive documentation confirming the claim.

Appearing before the Finance and Public Accounts Committee during hearings on audit reports covering the 2021 to 2024 fiscal years, the Accountant General said the funds stemmed from so-called “1 by 6” loans issued across several ministries, including Health, Basic Education, Agriculture, Interior, and Defence.

According to the Accountant General’s Department, additional work was carried out following earlier audit findings to trace and recover the outstanding amounts.

“The status of the recovery is that management has done further work on this, and we are able to say that all the 1 by 6 are recovered—the amount indicated as 2.4, all recovered,” the accountant general told the committee.

Auditors, however, cautioned that they could not validate the recovery without detailed supporting evidence. “We are yet to confirm that because those analyses or details are not provided to us,” auditors said.

Officials from the Accountant General’s Department said the documentation would be submitted for review. “We will provide them with the further work that was done and details of it,” a department representative told lawmakers.

The committee’s chairman, Alagie S. Darboe, directed the department to submit all relevant records by Feb. 25, setting the stage for auditors to verify whether the funds have indeed been fully recovered.