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The National Revenue Authority (NRA) of Sierra Leone is facing serious allegations of financial inconsistencies, questionable practices, and misleading submissions following a recent Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing in Parliament.
Hon. Ibrahim Tawa Conteh, Deputy Speaker of Parliament and PAC Chairman, expressed strong dissatisfaction with the NRA’s handling of the country’s tax collection system. He cited numerous failures and shortcomings, accusing the NRA of submitting inaccurate and misleading documents for the 2023 financial report.
The Audit Service uncovered several irregularities, including Le144 million unaccounted for, staff underpayment, and errors in tax returns and payments. Hon. Conteh stated, “You people have messed up the entire proceeding,” holding the NRA accountable for its failure to provide accurate financial information. He also criticized the NRA for attempting to shift blame to the Audit Service General office.
The PAC and the Audit office jointly discovered that Le114,727,344 in liabilities owed to the government were missing from the NRA’s revenue arrears report. Further discrepancies amounting to Le3,300 were also identified. These discrepancies spanned various financial areas, including tax liabilities, withholding taxes, personal income taxes, corporate income taxes, and other key financial data.
Senior NRA officials acknowledged the errors and discrepancies, admitting to lapses in their financial submissions. They expressed regret and pledged to rectify the inconsistencies, requesting an independent audit of the NRA’s financial records to restore public trust.
Sources within the Audit Service office revealed that the NRA may have inflated revenue collection figures, raising concerns about the accuracy of their financial reporting.
The revelations have sparked calls for increased transparency, accountability, and oversight within the NRA.
Of course they tried to shift blame to the Audit Service. If State House can do it when it was revealed that the president took money for medical care and travel expenses, but no hospital and hotels were paid, they not only stole the money, but did not pay for their hotels, the thieves that they are, why can’t other institutions? They are getting examples in how to steal right from Maada Bio, who also stole the elections. NRA will now be expecting Parliament to suspend the Auditor General. That is how things are done, isn’t it?