The President of the Lawyer’s Society, Augustine Sorie Sengbe-Marrah, provides thorough insight into the Lawyer’s Society’s submission, condemning parliament’s removal of the Auditor-General, Lara Taylor-Pearce.
On Friday, December 20, the Parliament of Sierra Leone effected the removal of the auditor general as authorised by the president, His Excellency Julius Maada Bio, based on the recommendations of the tribunal’s report.
In his analysis, Sengbe Marrah asserts that he the government made a blunder from the inception of the suspension of the Auditor-General and Deputy down to the removal, citing numerous procedural irregularities during the two-year-long tribunal and its impact on the nation’s rule of law and democracy.
He argues that the current parliament is weak and has been affected by the Proportional Representation (PR) system. Accordingly, he continues that the PR system has overpowered political parties and has not given citizens the sufficient opportunity to know their respective representatives in order to scrutinise them when need arises.
In 2021, the former auditor general, Lara Taylor-Pearce, and her deputy, Tamba Momoh, were suspended indefinitely for professional misconduct following the release of the 2020 Audit Service Report. Subsequently, a tribunal was set up to investigate their professional conduct the same year.
In July 2024, after two years, the tribunal finally submitted their report to the president. The report recommended the removal of the Auditor-General and Deputy. The report details the result of the investigations into their professional conduct and concludes that both the suspended auditor-general and deputy auditor-general were in breach of professional standards, conflict of interest, breach of confidentiality, and selective reporting.
During the two-year-long tribunal proceedings, there was a public outcry about its irregularities and impact on the nation’s democracy, rule of law, and the independence of the Audit Service Sierra Leone. Civil Society Organisations like the Budget Advocacy Network (BAN) strongly advocate for a speedy trial and transparency of the trial.
Similarly, professional institutions like the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI), a global audit institution for all national audit service institutions, expressed concerns about the process and stood up for the former Auditor-General and her deputy. One of the concerns raised, as characterised by the government as professional misconduct, is that the consultation of a third-party witness is totally ethical within the scope of the international standard of auditing. When the report was made public, the Institute of Chartered Accountants Sierra Leone (ICASL) exonerated both Madam Taylor-Pearce and Tamba Momoh of all professional misconduct allegations; this bears no heed on the decision of parliament.