With a view to better use of public money by the various services, local authorities and organizations benefiting from its funding, the Gabonese state plans to soon create the National Verification and Audit Authority, an independent body in charge of to ensure the control of public expenditure.
Almost 11 years after it became part of the Prime Minister’s services and eight years after the signing of the decree that was supposed to make it a fully-fledged body and therefore detached from the authority of the head of government, the General State Control has lived. The Council of Ministers adopted, on Friday, August 14, the draft ordinance removing the decree that creates and organizes this service. This deletion, explains the statement from the Council of Ministers, “follows the creation of the National Verification and Audit Authority”.
The Gabonese state is therefore considering setting up an “independent” body in these times of economic crisis accentuated by the health crisis linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. The aim is to pay more attention to the rational use of public money.
Supported by Denise Mekam’ne, Minister of State for Relations with Constitutional Institutions and Independent Administrative Authorities, the project to create the National Authority for Verification and Audit “stems from a political will to endow the government a body that supports state institutions and oversees the proper management of public assets and financial resources ”.
In fact, specifies the Council of Ministers, this independent body will have “the task of verifying and auditing state services, local communities and bodies receiving financial and material assistance from the state”.
