4th September 2024: The leadership of Freetown City Council (FCC) has read through the report of the Tribunal on the Auditor-General, Mrs. Lara Taylor-Pearce and the Deputy Auditor-General Mr. Tamba Momoh. The Council noted sections 248-257 under the caption: Failure to Conduct Proper Audit Exercise at the Freetown City Council for the Financial Year 2020 and wishes to make the following clarifications:

1. The Freetown City Council Financial Statements for the year ended 31st December 2020 were audited by Audit Services Sierra Leone (ASSL) and an unqualified audit opinion was issued. Copies of the audited FCC Financial Statements are available at our offices. FCC has always subjected itself and provided its fulliest cooperation to external audit exercises conducted by ASSL and will continue to do so as provided by law.
2. The majority of Transform Freetown projects implemented for and on behalf of Freetown City Council in 2020 were donor funded. Almost all the Transform Freetown projects that were donor funded were implemented by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), meaning that none of those funds came to FCC. Those Transform Freetown projects that were implemented by FCC were fully reflected in the FCC Financial Statements that were audited by ASSL.
3. The FCC has not received any concerns from its donors about corruption or the mismanagement of funds. FCC has never made a repayment of funds in respect of Transform Freetown projects. The effectiveness of the delivery of Transform Freetown projects has been well documented in detailed annual reports that are publicly available on FCC’s official website (https://fcc.gov.sl/transform-freetown/). In fact, FCC is proud to say that many of its donors have used Transform Freetown projects as examples of best practice both nationally and internationally.
4. In 2022, Parliament commissioned a special audit of the Transform Freetown projects. The audit went on for six (6) months. Although FCC is yet to receive the report of that special audit, we are confident that it will provide clarification on the implementation of Transform Freetown projects and lay to rest any misconceptions or suggestions of mismanagement.
5. FCC maintains that credible and independent external audit exercises are critical tools to provide an independent assessment of our programmes and uphold accountability and transparency in delivering services to Freetonians. We remain open to this type of scrutiny as we seek to transform Freetown and transform lives.
   End of Notice