The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Supreme Audit Institutions in Africa have been asked to adopt modern technologies to improve their delivery and uphold Integrity in the face of pressure as they execute their mandate.
The call was made during the opening session of the 20th Governing Board meeting of the African branch of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (AFROSAI-E) hosted by the Office of the Auditor General at Speke Resort Munyonyo on Tuesday.
The AFROSAI-E governing board consists of Auditor Generals from 26 member English-speaking countries. The countries include Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Mauritius, Botswana, Mozambique, Seychelles, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, and Namibia, among others.
The organisation was created to promote the independence of audit institutions and governance in the public sector, enhance its members’ institutional capacity, and promote and coordinate professional and technical development.
Lucy Nakyobe, the Head of Public Service lauded the Auditor Generals for their resilience commitment and professionalism and observed a need for robust legal frameworks to guarantee the independence of the Supreme Audit Institutions in Africa.
She tasked the officials to review rules that are no longer relevant to the audit process to ensure clear findings instead of spending time ensuring compliance.
“You audit and every time the same things keep coming and you keep saying… underperformed… over-performed. What is it we can do to change this…if the things are not followable, why don’t we change them?” she asked.
Nakyobe, who also doubles as the Secretary to Cabinet wondered how auditors can work with the management of public administration and proactively review processes within public entities to improve productivity, support innovation and enhance service delivery.
“I also encourage you to be innovative and creative. While adhering to rules and procedures is essential for maintaining accountability and integrity in public administration, it is equally important to be innovative and creative in the pursuit of service delivery excellence because it can drive positive change,” Nakyobe said.
Henry Musasizi, the Minister of State for Finance in charge of General Duties said supreme Audit Institutions play an important role in overseeing the utilization of public resources.
He equally asked the Supreme Audit Institutions to discuss mechanisms and ways of closing the expectation gap so that their stakeholders can understand findings and support the audit institutions better.
“…You need to always work towards closing the expectation gap. The expectation gap is ever-changing and growing and this is why some of the stakeholders are questioning why they have to stick to standards all the time. From our side where we sit, sometimes there is what we want to see in the audit report but it does not come out,” Musasizi said.
The minister also noted that an effective Supreme Audit Institutions plays a crucial role in acting as a deterrent to the misuse of public resources and that the extensive scope and significant role played by audit institutions calls for continuous improvement and innovation hence the need to continuously enhance their capacity to deliver their mandate.
In response, the Assistant Auditor General, Steven Kateregga said that the auditors have standards that they follow and that these standards are very clear on how they are supposed to perform an audit.
“Sometimes our stakeholders may not appreciate the results that we have come up with. For instance, if it is an issue relating to corruption…the stakeholder would expect that the audit report will come out very clearly to identify that fraud…so, sometimes depending on the type of audit you are undertaking, that may not be the case. That is where the gap in expectations arises,” said Kateregga.
Nancy Gathungu, Kenya’s Auditor General and Chairperson of AFROSAI-E Governing Board said that their annual meeting is intended to discuss areas of improvement on their oversight responsibilities.
“We have also realised that as we continue evolving in audit, there are areas we must look at. Right now we have seen the devastating effect of climate change…so all supreme audit institutions must be alive to audit climate action, environment and funding for either climate mitigation or climate adaptation,” she said.
She pointed at countries’ difficulties in paying public debt, saying that these are issues they want to look at and help African countries and their leaders manage public debt and ensure proper accountability.
Meanwhile, Uganda scooped the best Auditor General Performance Award, in 2024, the third since the initiative’s inception in 2008. The Kampala meeting by Auditor Generals from Africa started on Monday, May 6and closes on Thursday, May 9.
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