The European Union (EU) and Liberia’s General Auditing Commission (GAC) recently launched a new phase of technical support to the GAC worth over a 1.4 million USD at the Office of the National Authorising Officer (NAO) in the Executive Mansion Grounds. The EU funded project launched on July 30, 2018, will continue until May 2020.
The new long-term technical assistance (LTTA) will support the further development of the GAC into a modern Supreme Audit Institution (SAI), fully compliant with regional AFROSAI and international INTOSAI standards.
Additionally, building on the results and lessons learned from two previous phases, the support will strengthen and improve GAC relationships with its stakeholders and further improve the impact and efficiency of the GAC activities.
According to a release, the project will be implemented by the Italian consultancy EUROSUPPORT in association with the Ghanaian branch of the international audit firm KPMG with a team leader Ron Mwambwa, who will provide advice as an in-country expert during the entire duration of the contract. His long-term assistance will be complemented by short-term experts with specialized expertise.
The Auditor General Yusador Gaye expressed gratitude, on behalf of the GAC Management, for the EU’s continued support since the inception of 9th European Development Fund (EDF) as this support has contributed immensely to enhancing the post-war development of the Commission.
European Union representative Pia Buller said the project reaffirms the strong relations between the EU and the citizens of Liberia who are the final beneficiaries of the good work of the GAC.
“The GAC forum demonstrated the long way the GAC has come and the level of professionalism it has reached since its establishment. This project, among others, will strengthen the relations of the GAC with Ministries and Agencies, civil society, media and other stakeholders, by deepening the exchange on the topics covered during the forum. The technical support will go hand in hand with the EU’s financial support of more than EUR 2 million which funds the GAC’s professionalization strategy.” European Union representative indicated.
EUROSUPPORT’s Marco Sebastiani declared that his consortium is proud and honored to have been given the opportunity to contribute to the GAC continued modernization process.
Independent external government audit plays a central role to ensure transparent, efficient and accountable use of public resources. External auditing on the use of public funds is mandated to a Supreme Audit Institution (SAI).
The General Auditing Commission is the SAI of Liberia. It was established in 2005 and it is a member of INTOSAI and AFROSAI-E.
Since 2007 the EU provided support to the GAC, which over the last years has made huge progress and has aligned its organization and operations to best international practices and standards, i.e. INTOSAI 1977 Lima Declaration of Guidelines on Auditing Precepts and 2007 Mexico Declaration on SAI Independence.
