Public Accounts Committee Uncovers Missing Ministry of Health Vehicles

The Ministry of Health in Sierra Leone is currently under scrutiny for its inability to account for 238 vehicles within its fleet. This alarming revelation was made by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which discovered that the ministry lacks an asset register, leading to significant concerns about transparency and accountability in the management of public assets.

According to the audit, officials from the Ministry of Health failed to comply with multiple requests for vehicle inspection. Of the 286 vehicles registered in the Western Area, 238 were not presented for physical verification. Furthermore, it was revealed that many of these vehicles were neither licensed nor insured, a clear violation of Section 11.1 of the 2020 Government Vehicle and Fleet Policy.


In response, the auditors recommended that the ministry’s Transport Officer be held accountable for the missing vehicles and emphasized the urgent need for all government vehicles to be licensed and insured. Mohamed Ishmael Kutubu, a representative from the Ministry of Health, acknowledged the logistical difficulties in gathering all the vehicles for the audit but assured that efforts to establish an asset register are currently underway.


The PAC Chairman, Hon. Tawa, stressed the importance of maintaining an asset register, highlighting how the absence of such a system makes it easy for vehicles to be misused or lost, particularly during government transitions. He also raised concerns over government vehicles being insured under third-party policies, leaving the government vulnerable in the event of accidents.

Hon. Aaron Koroma proposed a collaboration between the committee and auditors to conduct a comprehensive physical verification of all government vehicles in the Western Area to resolve the accountability issue.


This situation underscores the importance of stringent asset management systems to ensure government resources are adequately tracked and safeguarded.



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