The National Roads Authority presented its annual activity report and audited financial statements to the Finance and Public Accounts Committee and subject matter specialists for consideration and adoption.
Deliberating on the activity report, the National Roads Authority reported progress on the construction of major motor able roads notably; Laminkoto- Passamas road and Niumi- Hakalang road to facilitate easy movement of goods and services.
The institution has already embarked numerous community sensitizations on road safety and best practices, the removal of obstacles off the highways, identification and painting of zebra crossings and the implementation of speed structures. The institute equally invests in data collection on traffic survey to ascertain the causes for the reported fatal accidents.
The Committee delved into the financial statements to make a comparison and flag some of the inconsistencies reflected of the contracts awarded to contractor to ascertain any prior cash advancements to contractor before commencement of work and this and this was affirmed.
On the management letter from the external auditors, the committee flagged that the National Roads Authority needs to work on documenting and maintain a fixed asset register, debt recovery plan, staff personnel file, staff appraisal plan. It was also noted that the staff are paid form the petty cash and this is not in line with generally accepted auditing standards. As a recommendation, the external auditors have recommended the institution to develop a risk register.
On governance issues, it has also been noted that there has not been a proper documentation of management meetings and there is equally no internal audit work plan that has been approved by the board. It has also been duly noted that the internal auditor sits in the Loans Committee which compromises the impartiality and transparency but equally flagged that landed properties are not reflected in the financial statements. However, this was given the fact that the Ministry of Local Government and Lands have not produced a list showing ownership of the state over certain lands and as such not under the purview of NRA.