African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom), may have falsified documents which may lead to loss of millions US$ in recent times, an independent forensic and performance audit on African Union Commission (AUC), done by audit firm Price-Water-Cooper (PWC), has reveled in what could implicate senior Officials…..
Amisom was constituted in 2008 to help bring peace and stability in the Horn of Africa Nation and comprised of staff and soldiers directly answerable to the AUC which is under Mousse Faki, who was first elected in 2017, after beating Kenyan’s Amina Mohamed, he replaced South African Dlamini Zuma.
Mr.Faki who once served as Chad Prime minister, was easily reelected last month after almost a landslide victory following a vote by African Union members Countries, the Commission has Uffices in AU headquarters in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, Currently AUC representative to Amisom Mr.Ambassador Francisco Madeira, a Mozambique National who has been at helm for quite some time, the Amisom team has headquarters at heavily fortified Halane base camp in Mogadishu Somalia.
In the Report which was concluded on November 2020, and exclusively seen by Diinah.com news, the audit firm PWC raises has a lot of audit queries, which cloud lead to a total overhaul of the commission in Addis Ababa, should radical surgery be carried out l, the report cloud also taint the legacy of Faki who had all along been seen as reformist.
Payment Ghost Soldiers:-
The Report gives evidence of misuse of Human Resource Dipartment where payments worth millions of US$ were made particularly in 2016 and 2017 (years the firm focuse on), according to the report, there was a significant variation in the actual number of troops serving in the Amisom. Besides keeping dead soldiers in the nominal roll, the Amisom staff has also been “paying” troops who had left the mission, further making commission lose millions of dollars Ideally, It’s expected the once a soldier die or exists the mission, he or she expunged the payroll.
Recommendation on the Theft:-
Although the team was just given the mandate the audit and performance of the African Union Commission, it went on to give few recommendations, which would aid commission to change its modus operandi, fore ay sake of accountability and transparency, which are Kay factors in its operations.
In Somalia, Ambassador Madeira has been also facing criticism from within, with opposition leaders accusing him of colluding with outgoing President Mr.Farmaajo and his NISA Director to curtail freedoms, both Faki and Madeira in separate interviews has often dismissed the allegations as “ Propaganda”.
