{"id":14795,"date":"2022-04-25T16:54:20","date_gmt":"2022-04-25T16:54:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings"},"modified":"2022-04-25T17:30:23","modified_gmt":"2022-04-25T17:30:23","slug":"govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings","title":{"rendered":"Gov\u2019t \u2018dismayed\u2019 by audit findings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>Health Minister Dr. Ahmadou Lamin Samateh has expressed government\u2019s dismay and dissatisfaction over the National Audit Office\u2019s report which alleged that the government expended over D500 million unapproved payments. Minister Samateh described the report as \u201cdeeply shocking\u201d and premeditated to tarnish the government\u2019s image.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe report portrays a seemingly grim scenario over the government handling of Covid-19 funds which the ministry as the implementing agency has strong reservation with,\u201d Minister Samateh told journalists in Banjul on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The ministry said the NAO\u2019s choice of launching its report with a media conference is \u201cuncommon\u201d in the history of its work. \u201cWe have strong conviction that some of the information they advanced are not objectively representative and fall short of reflecting the true picture as far as the health component is concerned,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He claimed the auditors\u2019 alleged findings are somehow exaggerated and don\u2019t reflect what transpired because the auditors refused to take onboard most of the tangible testimonies and supporting documents the ministry presented to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe consider the NAO\u2019s disregard of our views as deeply shocking and a manifestation of the audit team\u2019s adamant resolve to only attract cheap public attention and also a reflection of the aggressive intent seen in some members of the audit team during the ministry\u2019s interaction with them,\u201d he said. Dr Samateh said his permanent secretary was not given enough time to provide all the needed responses and documents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot of ill-will in the audit process because it was carried out by three young auditors who came in with a lot of arrogance as they work with some of our staff. They demonstrated a lot of arrogance to our PS who was their principal partner in the audit process. This made us believe that they came in with a preconceived position and mindset making them neglect the explanation and management responses,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The minster said an audit of \u201cthis magnitude\u201d should not be left with three young auditors. \u201cIt is very unfortunate that the very senior auditors would rather sit in the office or go to audit embassies in London, Washington or Saudi Arabia than take the lead in this very important local exercise. This, we believe, has led to the subjective nature of the process and the audit report,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Minister Samateh recommended for the National Audit Office to have more experienced auditors handle large and complex audit exercises and also for the auditors to be sworn to an oath that they will perform their responsibilities without fear, favour, ill-will or affection.<\/p>\n

Clarification Responding to the queries made by auditors on the World Bank grant, Minister Samateh said the procurement of the $3,946,637.10 medical equipment and consumables was carried out by the PCU with the supervision of the World Bank team leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe D100 million transferred from the Covid -19 funds to PCU is the ministry\u2019s contribution to the construction of the treatment center at Farato since the world Bank ended up carrying out the entire procurement of the equipment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dr Samateh said the auditors were asked to interview the WB team leader who was responsible for all the communications for the signing of the contract. \u201cSo the auditors\u2019 claims that we could have saved over D2 million are untrue,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Reacting to the auditors\u2019 queries on his ministry\u2019s failure to obtain approvals from the GPPA for single sourcing, Minister Samateh said some contracts were awarded using the emergency laws.<\/p>\n

Samateh also justified the ministry\u2019s decision to spend over D2 million to airlift Madagascar Covid-19 Organic from Bissau. He said contrary to the auditors\u2019 claims, all the items purchased by the government were necessary for the fight against Covid-19.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Gambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. Health Minister Dr. Ahmadou Lamin Samateh has expressed government\u2019s dismay and dissatisfaction over the National Audit Office\u2019s report which alleged that the government expended over D500 million unapproved payments. Minister Samateh described the report as \u201cdeeply shocking\u201d and premeditated to tarnish the government\u2019s image. \u201cThe report portrays a seemingly grim scenario over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":14794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,12],"tags":[6084,2355,2361,6083,260],"class_list":["post-14795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-dismayed","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-gambia","tag-findings","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"\nGov\u2019t \u2018dismayed\u2019 by audit findings - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Health Minister Dr. Ahmadou Lamin Samateh has expressed government\u2019s dismay and dissatisfaction over the National Audit ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gov\u2019t \u2018dismayed\u2019 by audit findings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Health Minister Dr. Ahmadou Lamin Samateh has expressed government\u2019s dismay and dissatisfaction over the National Audit ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-25T16:54:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-25T17:30:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/04\/img-6266da9195e43.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"765\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Gov\u2019t \u2018dismayed\u2019 by audit findings\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-25T16:54:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-25T17:30:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings\"},\"wordCount\":642,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/04\/img-6266da9195e43.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"\u2018dismayed\u2019\",\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Gambia\",\"findings\",\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings\",\"name\":\"Gov\u2019t \u2018dismayed\u2019 by audit findings - Gambia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/04\/img-6266da9195e43.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-25T16:54:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-25T17:30:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Health Minister Dr. Ahmadou Lamin Samateh has expressed government\u2019s dismay and dissatisfaction over the National Audit ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/04\/img-6266da9195e43.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/04\/img-6266da9195e43.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":765,\"caption\":\"Gov\u2019t \u2018dismayed\u2019 by audit findings\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gov\u2019t \u2018dismayed\u2019 by audit findings\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/\",\"name\":\"Gambia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gov\u2019t \u2018dismayed\u2019 by audit findings - Gambia","description":"Health Minister Dr. Ahmadou Lamin Samateh has expressed government\u2019s dismay and dissatisfaction over the National Audit ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gov\u2019t \u2018dismayed\u2019 by audit findings","og_description":"Health Minister Dr. Ahmadou Lamin Samateh has expressed government\u2019s dismay and dissatisfaction over the National Audit ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings","og_site_name":"Gambia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2022-04-25T16:54:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-04-25T17:30:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":765,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/04\/img-6266da9195e43.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Gov\u2019t \u2018dismayed\u2019 by audit findings","datePublished":"2022-04-25T16:54:20+00:00","dateModified":"2022-04-25T17:30:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings"},"wordCount":642,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/04\/img-6266da9195e43.jpg","keywords":["\u2018dismayed\u2019","Africa Press","Africa Press-Gambia","findings","Gambia"],"articleSection":["all news","head lines","homepage-english","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings","name":"Gov\u2019t \u2018dismayed\u2019 by audit findings - Gambia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/04\/img-6266da9195e43.jpg","datePublished":"2022-04-25T16:54:20+00:00","dateModified":"2022-04-25T17:30:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Health Minister Dr. Ahmadou Lamin Samateh has expressed government\u2019s dismay and dissatisfaction over the National Audit ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/04\/img-6266da9195e43.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/04\/img-6266da9195e43.jpg","width":720,"height":765,"caption":"Gov\u2019t \u2018dismayed\u2019 by audit findings"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/govt-dismayed-by-audit-findings#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gov\u2019t \u2018dismayed\u2019 by audit findings"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/","name":"Gambia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}