For Ineligible Payment Of Child & Education Allowances… Foreign Affairs Ministry To Account For Millions Of Leones

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation is to account for millions of Leones made as payment for child and education allowances which the Ministry could not account for according to law.
This was captured in the recent Audit Report which revealed that the Ministry paid money to foreign mission staff for child and education allowances even though their birth certificates indicate that they are above 18 years.
“Child and education allowances totalling US$16,900, £4,746.06 and €9,038.7 were paid to nine foreign mission staff, even though the birth certificates of these children indicated that they were above 18 years,” the report stated.
And that the amounts totalling US$8,450 and €20,487.72 were paid to four foreign mission staff for child and education allowances, but evidence such as birth certificates and copies of passports were missing in the staff personal files.
Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL) maintained that the Director of Administration and Finance should ensure that the amounts are recovered from the staff and paid into the Consolidated Fund (CF).
ASSL furthered that birth certificates and copies of passports should be submitted for children for whom US$8,450 and €20,487.72 were paid as child and education allowances, noting that otherwise, the amounts should be recovered and paid into the CF.
In the Ministry’s response, the Director General and Ambassador-at-Large stated that the birth certificates are now available for audit inspection.
According to the report, there was no evidence of recovery and repayment of the queried amounts into the CF in respect of payments for the child and education allowances for children over 18 years.
And that no birth certificates and copies of passports were submitted for the children of the four staff that were paid the child and education allowances and that the issues remain unresolved.