Auditor General the messenger, so don't shoot him

If there is a job in government that must definitely be thankless, it is that of the Auditor General. As far as I can remember, this office has faithfully given annual reports of its findings on the operations of various government departments.

The findings have often damned various departments and raised serious queries on their operations and the individuals concerned. Unfortunately, year after year the story repeats itself, sometimes looking like a cut and paste work, with the same departments and at times the same officers being named for the same sins, year in year out. The admirable thing is that the Auditor's office has remained steadfast, immovable, and commendably resilient, irrespective of the fruit of their labour.

It would appear that even though as a nation we have entrenched into our administration the practice of continuous audit of government operations, we have never fully committed to acting on the findings. Successive governments have, at the very minimum, ignored these reports; or at the extreme, gone outright for the auditor's jugular.

 This is unfortunate because the auditor, like a medical doctor, simply conducts a diagnosis and give us the findings. It would be insanity to fight the doctor simply because their diagnosis reveals serious health conditions. Whether these maladies are as a result of our own negligence or due to external factors, the best we can do is to seek a prescription on how to deal with them.

Unfortunately in some nations, government auditors have been the targets of sabotage or even persecution by government mandarins. In Pakistan, there is an ongoing battle between the government and the Auditor General, Buland Rana.

Whereas Rana has been accused of withdrawing 4.7 million rupees from the exchequer on account of excess salary and privileges, some pundits believe that these could be trumped up charges aimed at removing him from office and replacing him with a more government friendly auditor.

Back in March this year, our own Auditor General Edward Ouko raised alarm over a possible sabotage in his office. Dr Ouko pointed fingers at vast corruption networks in Government that seemed afraid to be audited. He especially fingered those out to sabotage the then planned ICT platform intended to monitor transactions in Government.

Indeed, when the President launched the digital procurement system recently, he personally warned of some officers who may be out to sabotage it. Thankfully, the President promised to deal firmly with them.

In the converse, the Auditor General in South Africa seems to be enjoying his job. In his recent release of the 2012-13 audit report on the local governments, Kimi Makwetu said his office was encouraged by the responses and commitments of the premiers, speakers, and members of executive council responsible for finance and local government.

 He was particularly buoyed by the line minister's commitment to support and enable the local government attain higher levels of efficiency and accountability.

 

According to Makwetu, all these leaders had come to recognise the importance of prioritising some basic but very significant actions for running the municipalities. Consequently, the Auditor General's office promised to redouble its effort to work closely with all of them towards achieving transparent and accountable financial management and governance.

Why is it that we cannot speak equally positively about our own national audit process? Perhaps it is because we have not fully appreciated the role an audit plays in the general running of any institution, and especially government. Audit, as a key tool for financial reporting, not only strengthens accountability, but more importantly, builds trust both within and outside the institution.

Thus for government, annual audit reports should be viewed as instruments for strengthening our country's democracy by enabling oversight, accountability and governance in the public sector, and thereby building public confidence in the government.

Sadly though, all this is well known to a majority of our leaders. What seems to be lacking is the goodwill and determination to do what is right. Because of our nature of politics and governance, the government is largely comprised of friends, relatives, and political creditors that our leaders owe much for their support. To deal with such individuals when they flout the laws and bend the rules becomes extremely difficult and at times murky.

And yet as Nelson Mandela is quoted to have said, "The day I become afraid to do the right thing, is the day I cease to be a leader." In spite of the political cost to him and his party, the President must not be afraid to crack the whip and to drive out all those in his bus that dip their fingers in the national honeypot.

Because as Makwetu points out in his report, improved financial management and performance reporting is "a key ingredient in building trust in the credibility and accountability of government... which could add to the arsenal required to restore trust in government's capacity to deliver services to citizens." And I say – Amen!