File Photo/Somali Times
Somalia Puntland says UN agencies with offices in Puntland regions of refusing to submit annual accounts of projects they implement in its regions.
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The Puntland Parliament’s Finance Committee said it received a report from the Puntland Auditor General showing that eight UN agencies that responded to a letter sent to them did not submit accounts of projects worth $123.5 million implemented last year by 2024.
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MP Abdiqani Dhashane, a member of the Finance Committee, said that agencies are obliged to submit their budgets and accounts annually to ensure accountability and transparency. He noted that it took Puntland 20 years for agencies to at least submit to the Auditor General the budget of projects they implement in Puntland every year.
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“It has taken us 20 years for agencies to submit budgets for projects they are implementing in Puntland. It is clear that it will take another 20 years for them to submit official accounts for these projects,” said MP Dhashane.
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Last year, the Puntland Parliament ordered all international agencies operating in Puntland to submit budgets and accounts for their projects to the State Treasury, but no agency has been found to have complied with this order.
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Puntland has yet to conduct any audit of the funds received by agencies from projects they are implementing in Puntland. There have been many previous arguments that the large amounts of money received by agencies from projects do not have much impact on the lives of people and the environment.