In a bid to recover unaccounted funds and address financial mismanagement, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament, chaired by Deputy Speaker Hon. Ibrahim Tawa Conteh, has initiated hearings focused on local councils. The hearings, which follow revelations in the Auditor General’s Reports for 2021 and 2022, have put the Freetown City Council (FCC) under intense scrutiny.

Hon. Conteh disclosed that the PAC, ahead of its local council hearings, is determined to address management and accountability lapses highlighted in the audit reports. The Committee aims to ensure that discrepancies and malfeasances are not repeated in the next fiscal year. Over the past two months, the PAC has successfully recovered billions of Leones from various government institutions, with the funds being deposited into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).

During a recent hearing on Tuesday, representatives from both the Freetown City Council (FCC) and the Western Area Rural District Council (WARDC) were questioned about the findings in the Auditor General’s Reports. The Committee’s investigations revealed that the FCC has been collecting an estimated one billion Leones from market dues and tolls. However, only 800 million old Leones were being deposited into the National Revenue Authority (NRA), raising suspicions of widespread malfeasance within the council.

Hon. Conteh accused tax collectors within the FCC of using unauthorized receipt books and tickets to siphon off market taxes for personal gain, rather than depositing the funds into the Council’s accounts. He identified these tax collectors as a significant factor behind the councils’ struggles to generate sufficient revenue.

“I can authoritatively state that those collecting local taxes have their own receipt books and tickets, which is detrimental to the councils’ revenue collection efforts,” Hon. Conteh asserted.

The PAC’s ongoing efforts seek to clamp down on these practices and ensure that public funds are properly accounted for and used for their intended purposes, as the country looks to strengthen financial accountability across all levels of government.