With allegations that the Freetown City Council (FFC) cannot account for Le101 Billion under the Transform Freetown Priorities Project that was taken note of in the Auditor General’s 2019 Financial Year Report, as well as other findings, the Clerk of Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) has written to the FCC Chief Administrator informing him that the PAC has commenced the review process with a rescheduled date for meeting with FCC today Friday 26th November, 2021 at 11:00a.m.

The Parliamentary summon is extended to the FCC Mayor, Heads of Departments/Units, past and present officials and all Contractors and Service Providers in the period under review to a public hearing in Committee Room No. 1, House of Parliament.

The correspondence requests the FCC Chief Administrator to come along with all relevant supporting documents relating to the queries raised in the 2019 Auditor General’s Report, such as Bank Statements, Payment Vouchers, Certificates of Work Completion relating to 31 out of 39 projects claimed to have been completed by FCC.

The correspondence further notes that the Committee will physically visit to verify the 31 completed projects and the sites of the ongoing projects, effective Monday29th November, 2021 at 11:00a.m.

Failure to fulfill the above, the Committee warned, will constitute Contempt of Parliament and will attract the necessary sanctions against the Chief Administrator/FCC.

The 2019 Auditor General’s Report on FCC noted, among other things, that the projects implemented by other agencies on behalf of FCC were not audited because of lack of information on them at the time of the audit exercise.The Audit also stated that in its Transform Freetown Priorities, FCC identified development needs and mapped them in different priority areas.

According to the Audit Report, even though the TFP should form the basis for the preparation of FCC’s annual budget, the council failed to link these priorities to the 2019 budget.