The 17th Technical Conference, organized by the AFROSAI-E took place in Pretoria, South Africa over the period 18th to 20th October 2022. The conference was aimed at bringing together member countries and partners of the AFROSAI-E under the theme ‘connect’ to enable SAIs, partners and other stakeholders to engage in-person after more than 2 years of not being able to meet face-to-face due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Technical and financial partners of the AFROSAI-E such as INTOSAI, the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), the African Professionalization Initiative (API), the Norwegian SAI and Netherlands Court of Audit (NCA) shared more about the support they have provided to member-SAIs, new projects they are working on and how they intend to continue working and further assist our region. This was either through presentations during the conference itself or their exhibition booths.
The OAG Seychelles also participated in the exhibition where it showcased some of its products such as audit reports and the coastal audit video, the latter which was done in partnership with GIZ.
The presentations and discussions over the 3 days were primarily centered on the principles of INTOSAI-P 12 on the value and benefits of Supreme Audit Institutions. The sessions featured presentations and discussions over credibility and professionalization of SAIs, the future relevant auditors and audit-integration of the SDGs. New tools and materials developed by the AFROSAI-E were also presented.
Auditor General, Mr. Herath, attended the IDI/INTOSAI Heads of SAIs Leadership Masterclasses in Rabat, Morocco. Several Auditors General from different regions attended the event representing different INTOSAI Chapters.
The resource persons included representatives from the World Bank, the former Spanish Minister of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, the former Swedish Central Bank and governor and the former executive director of the Nobel Foundation, the Director of the Fiscal Affairs Department at the IMF.
MASTERY is an IDI initiative aimed at empowering SAI leaders to effectively perform their leadership roles and so exert a greater impact within and beyond their SAIs. To this end, MASTERY will run a series of Masterclasses where Heads of SAIs will have the opportunity to share their experiences, acquire in-depth knowledge on key topics and learn from inter-acting with internationally renowned speakers in an inspiring and academic environment. Participants will also have the option to propose and get support to develop concrete actions to enhance their leadership.
Through participation in the Masterclass, SAI leaders will be able to (a) design approaches to make the SAI more inclusive; (b) establish inclusive human resources policies allowing staff to grow and increase the performance of the team; (c) Develop a more open and creative environment; and (d) make the SAI more responsive to external stakeholders’ expectations.
Auditor General, Mr. Herath, presenting a copy of his opinion on the statement of accounts of the Covid-19 Relief Fund Account to Hon. Speaker, Mr. Mancienne. The Speaker thanked the Auditor General and his team for timely reports on various subject matters being submitted to the National Assembly despite constraints.
The Ministry of Finance prepared the statement of accounts under the Public Finance Management Regulations (S.I. 91 of 2022) and submitted to the Auditor General for auditing and expressing an opinion thereon. As the custodian of the Fund, the Ministry of Finance is responsible for the disseminating of the report or any information on the Fund.
Auditor General, Mr.Gamini Herath submitted his annual report for 2020 to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon.Roger Mancienne, as required under Article 158 of the Constitution. The Speaker is required to table the report in the National Assembly as per Section 21 (1) of the Auditor General Act, 2010.
The report bring out the findings arising from the audit of government accounts and various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) undertaken during the previous audit cycle. In addition, included in the report is a special report on the audit of expenditure incurred by the Ministry of Health on the measures taken to prevent the spread of and minimize the impact of Covid-19 pandemic during 2020.
This is the fifth consecutive year for which the report has been submitted before the end of December statutory deadline. However, Auditor General feels that the report could have submitted little earlier had it not been for the impact of COVID-19 situation.
Read more: Auditor General’s Report for 2020 submitted to the Speaker
TODAY
In Seychelles
Saturday 28 August, 2021
Auditor-General Mr. Herath formerly presents report to President Ramkalawan
Read more: Auditor General presents WBSAIII Report to the President
State House
President Ramkalawan commends to the Auditor General’s office on their achievements
28 August 2021 | Legal Affairs
President Wavel Ramkalawan yesterday formally received the ranking report issued by the World Bank whereby Seychelles has been ranked the highest in the world alongside South Africa, among 118 countries. The Report was presented to the President by the Auditor General, Mr Gamini Herath.
Read more: President Ramkalawan commends to the Auditor General’s office on their achievements
10 August 2021 |State House
President Wavel Ramkalawan has personally conveyed his congratulations and that of the people of the Republic of Seychelles to the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) upon being ranked the highest in the world alongside South Africa, among 118 countries. This announcement was made by the Supreme Audit Institutions Independence Index – 2021 Global Synthesis Report, launched on 27th July 2021 by the World Bank.
Read more: President Ramkalawan sends congratulatory message to the Office of the Auditor General
Office of the Auditor General (OAG) of Seychelles and the National Audit Office (CNAO) of the People’s Republic of China signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for improving bilateral co-operation between the two supreme audit institutions (SAI) in a more formal and organized manner.
CNAO is one of the largest SAIs in the world and a leader in several areas of public sector auditing with a full-fledged training and professional development center offering international courses.
The MoU with CNAO will pave the way for the two SAIs to co-operate in advancing the public sector auditing in the respective countries, particularly, through:
- exchange of information, experiences and best practices on public sector auditing procedure and methodology including audit realization issues through trainings and study visits; and
- training for the improvement of professional standards of audit personnel.
As per a request made by the FPAC of the 6th Assembly, the OAG looked into the various land deals and transactions between the government and the political party presently known as United Seychelles.
The resulting report was submitted to the National Assembly and the Cabinet office in January 2021.
Audit found that, in 1993, at the dawn of the Third Republic, the Government of Seychelles (Government) transitioned from a one party state to a multiparty system of governance.
At the time, a delinking process took place to separate the SPPF (now United Seychelles), which was at that time the ruling political party from the government.
The delinking process involved the creation of a committee chaired by the Director of Lands at that time. The committee was tasked to carefully look at the propositions made by SPPF for the purchase or lease of various premises and sites for its offices.
Read more: Report on various land deals and transactions between GOS and the political party US
Auditor General, Mr.Gamini Herath submitted his annual report for 2019 to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon.Roger Mancienne, as required under Article 158 of the Constitution.
The report bring out the findings arising from the audit of government accounts for 2019 and various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) undertaken during the previous audit cycle.
This is the fourth consecutive year for which the report has been submitted before the end of December statutory deadline. However, Auditor General feels that the report could have submitted little earlier had it not been for the impact of COVID-19 situation.
The activity report and audited financial statements of OAG for 2019 was also submitted to the Speaker under Section 26 of the Auditor General Act. This report was due by the end of June, however, delayed due to the COVID-19 situation which impacted not only on the operations of OAG but also the external auditing of the OAG.
Read more: Report of the Auditor General for 2019 submitted to the Speaker