BY ALEX DADAMU
SOLOMON Islands Office of the Auditor General and Internews (an international media support non-profit) are currently hosting the first of a series of real-time reporting Accountability Workshops for the local mainstream media.
The two-day accountability workshop was held at the Office of the Auditor General Building in Honiara.
The first of these is held on Tuesday 14 and Wednesday 15 February, to coincide with the tabling of three performance audits and a Thematic Audit Report on COVID-19 Procurement during the State of Public Emergency (SOE) in 2020.
According to the Auditor General Office (OAG), the three performance audits were on the following ministries,
– Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS)
– Ministry of Infrastructure Development (MID)
– National Disaster Management Office (NDMO)
Speaking to Journalists today (Tuesday 14) the Auditor-General (AG) Mr. David Dennis said the real-time reporting Accountability Workshop is something that is a long time coming.
“The opportunity to be able to engage in our respective roles is a good thing.
“Media is a critical stakeholder, in many ways media is the voice of the reports,” AG David Dennis said.
Further to that, he explained that the Audit reports are not easy for people to understand what is actually contained inside.
“Media actually have a really important role to then translate that.”
In the meantime, Auditor-General, Mr. David Dennis confirmed that all three performance audits and a Thematic Audit Report on COVID-19 Procurement during the state of Public Emergency in 2020 will be shared with the media tomorrow once it is released.
“The intention is to release the report on our Website tomorrow and then go through a briefing with the media,” the Auditor-General said.
