The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) Permanent Committee on Audit and Public Accounts (PAP) has applauded presentations by the African Union (AU) Office of Internal Audit and Oversight (OIA) and AFROSAI-E, at the currently underway August Sittings of the Permanent Committees of the sixth Parliament.
AFROSAI-E is an English-speaking subgroup of AFROSAI, the African branch of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions.
“We are very pleased with deliberations and submissions of OIA and AFROSAI-E,” said CAPA Chairperson, Hon. Miles Sampa.
“We had a fruitful day; the workshop for the members of CAPA was very much informative and educating. What makes me happier is that an audit proved that all our members are clean and we have an up and running committee. We must always remember that CAPA is an important Committee for the PAP and AU.”
Hon. Miles Sampa also challenged committee members to be committed towards their mandate.
“We need to reform and dedicate more time towards CAPA. For us to achieve our goals we need to work harder. It is time to work on implementing all our work plans,” he added.
Meanwhile, the OIA, represented by Ms Sylvia Chilwana, urged CAPA to strictly adhere to the prevailing AU Staff and Financial Regulations and Rules in the management of the Union Resources and ensure that sanctions are enforced on violation of these Regulations and Rules, to comply with AU Staff Rules and Regulations in handling and resolving Staff issues and avoid adoption or application of any rules that are not in line with the AU Constitutive Act, AU Financial Rules and Regulations.
For effective financial management and in line with the relevant Executive Council Decision CAPA was advised to ensure that PAP adheres to the AUFRR, Procurement Manuals and other financial management processes in the utilization of financial resources and ensure that payments made have all required supporting documents.
In regards to oversight of Financial Reporting, Chilwana informed CAPA that it should be aware of significant accounting and reporting issues and recent pronouncements to understand the potential impact on financial statements.
“The committee should ensure that the tone at the top is set and ensures that monthly, quarterly and yearly reports on financial matters are produced from the SAP system and availed to the committee for scrutiny, ensure Debtors ageing monthly reports be prepared highlighting the progress on the debt collection and ensure the debt is only written off upon meeting the requirement in the AU policy,” she said.
Meanwhile, AFROSAI-E CEO Meisie Nkau shared her presentation that focused on the role of the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) in ensuring transparency and accountability in building strong Public Financial Management (PFM) systems in Africa.
“We want the parliamentarians to take note that, a Supreme Audit Institution is an independent national-level institution which conducts audits of government activities,” said Nkau.
Presentations were also conducted by the PAP Secretariat on various areas including Committees, Research, Documentation and Library Services, Office of Internal Audit, Finance, Human Resources and Administration and Monitoring and Evaluation offices.
Also heard were presentations and discussions on African Union Financial Rules Effective 2022, presentations on AU Procurement Rules and Regulations, and presentations and discussions on AU Staff Rules and Regulation.
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