The Ministry of Finance and Development-Planning has withheld the salaries of 17 comptrollers of government entities over claims of non-compliance of annual financial statement submission for fiscal year 2023.
A Finance Ministry release on Wednesday, April 3, 2024 said the Comptroller and Accountant General of Liberia, Elwood T. Netty, has directed that the March 2024 salaries of comptrollers be placed on hold for the said action.
According to the release, the annual financial statements of various government spending entities should have been submitted to the office of the Comptroller and Accountant General on or before March 15, 2024.
Accordingly, the Comptroller and Accountant General has instructed that the March 2024 salary of the comptroller of each entity will be placed on hold until their reports are submitted to his office.
The affected comptrollers include Fambah Crayton,National Food Assistance Agency; Mallay Ndorbor,Paynesville City Corporation; Nathaniel Vonhm,Independent Information Commission; Winston Willie,Liberia Board for Nurse and Midwifery; Benard Kekula,National Aids Commission; Benchie Brown, National Public Health Institute; Samuel David, West African Examination Council; Boima Barclay, Rural Renewable Energy Agency; Armstrong Dillon, Agricultural and Industrial Training Bureau; Kiziah Morris, Central Agriculture Research Institute; William Nyonyon, Rubber Development Fund Incorporated; Onike Thomas,National Housing and Saving Bank; Charlotte Kpannah,National Insurance Corporation of Liberia; Emmanuel Harmon, William V.S Tubman University; Togar Gibson,University of Liberia; Allen Doe, Liberia Electricity Regulatory Authority; and George Youh, Liberia Airport Authority.
Meanwhile, Netty has reminded all comptrollers and financial managers as well as institutions’ heads that they are to submit their first quarter on or before April 15, 2024. The comptroller and accountant general said the reminder is consistent with Section 19 of the Public Financial Management Regulations.
It quotes Section 19 of the PFM Regulations as saying, “There shall be prepared by each entity head of government agency and transmitted to the Auditor General, the Comptroller General in respect of each quarter commencing from the beginning of the Fiscal Year, the accounts covering all Public Funds under his/her control.”