Consultants must also be held accountable for substandard works – Auditor General

Auditor General Deodat Sharma is calling for penalties to be introduced so that consultants can be held accountable for the standard of work produced, especially in construction projects executed in the public sector.

Nearly all construction projects in the public sector have consultants onboard to oversee the quality of work and ensure compliance with the terms of the contract.

Despite this, however, there are still substandard work found in some public projects especially road construction – something which the Auditor General says could be addressed if the consultants along with contractors are held accountable.

“I think in the Consultant Act, there is not a penalty and that is our problem…we need to hold those consultants responsible. If we could get that being done, I think when there’s an overpayment, not only the accounting officer we can hold responsible, but the consultants,” Sharma told reporters after handing over the Auditor General’s Report for the 2024 fiscal year to the Speaker of the National Assembly on Thursday.

Though he did not go into details of the report, which will be made public after being laid in the National Assembly, the Auditor General noted that while there have been some improvements in the handling of public accounts, more still needs to be done to ensure that proper records are being kept of state spendings and that the taxpayers’ dollars are spent wisely.

Moreover, AG Sharma is also looking to strengthen his legal team so that his office could ensure that public officers who are negligent can also be held accountable.