Auditor General presents WBSAIII Report to the President

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In Seychelles

Saturday 28 August, 2021

Auditor-General Mr. Herath formerly presents report to President Ramkalawan

Rankings

Auditor General presents WBSAIII Report to the President

Auditor General, Mr. Gamini Herath formally presents the World Bank Supreme Audit Institutions Independence Index (WBSAIII) Report to the President of the Republic, Mr. Wavel Ramkalawan and Seychelles tops the ranking.

by N. Derjacques

The  Report  was  presented  to  the President of the Repub-lic  Mr.  Wavel  Ramkalawan  on  27th  August  2021.    The  Presi-dent   congratulated   Mr.   Herath   on  his  continuous  hard  work  and  commented  on  work  done  whilst  the  current  Government  was  pre-siding  the  opposition  force  in  the  National   Assembly.      He   further   said  that  with  the  new  adminis-tration,  the  work  would  continue  at  the  Auditor  General's  Office  to  identify areas in misuse of taxpay-er’s money.

On  his  part,  the  Auditor  General  stated  that  this  is  a  moment  of   joy   and   pride   for   Seychelles,   given  that  the  country  has  managed  to  achieve  such  a  high  ranking  through  the  hard  work  of  the  Auditor General's Office.

Mr. Herath stated that the ranking  will  have  a  positive  impact  on  the countries profile, as partners in development  will  be  glad  to  know  that   Seychelles   has   an   effective   audit  system  which  ensures  any  financial  assistance  given  toward  the  country’s  economy  will  be  ac-counted for and used properly.

On August 10th, 2021, the President  personally  conveyed  his  congratulations to the Auditor General's Office after the announcement on  July  27th  2021  by  the  Supreme  Audit   Institutions   Independence   Index-  2021  in  the  Global  Synthesis Report by World Bank, that Seychelles   had   been   ranked   the   highest   in   the   world   alongside   South  Africa,  amongst  118  countries.

To  note  Seychelles  received  full  marks,   indicating   that   all   independence   indicators   were   met.   These were based on international standards  and  practices  which  includes  operational,  mandate,  coverage and financial scopes. 17 other countries received the next highest grade.

The criteria for the Index was set out  in  the  1977  Lima  Declaration,  which  encourages  audit  authorities  to  actively  work  towards  promoting   good   governance,   transparency   and   accountability.   The   assessment itself is used in the report to measure the Independence Supreme   Audit   Institution   (In-SAI)  independence  on  an  annual  basis. InSAI includes 10 indicators of  SAI  independence  which  are  based  on  international  standards  and practices.