By Saidu Jalloh, Daily Scope Reporter
An audit conducted by the Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL) has exposed significant irregularities in the disbursement of NLe 275,000 allocated to assist 200 youth beneficiaries under the Freetown City Council’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) scheme from 2021 to August 2023. This raises critical concerns regarding transparency and accountability in public spending.
The Youth Start-up Fund was intended to provide financial assistance and training to foster entrepreneurship among young people. However, auditors found that the allocation of funds—NLe 1,000 per youth in 2021, and NLe 1,500 per youth in 2022 and 2023—was executed without adherence to formal procedures. Notably, there were no applications, business plans, or documented selection criteria in place.
Interviews with the head of the youth sector revealed that beneficiaries were chosen based on internal youth structures and recommendations from local councillors, bypassing any merit-based evaluation. The audit team attempted to verify the legitimacy of the recipients by sampling names and contact numbers from the provided list. Alarmingly, 95% of the contact numbers were either non-functional or nonexistent, raising serious doubts about whether the funds were actually reaching legitimate beneficiaries.
These findings indicate a systemic failure in the oversight of grants, suggesting that public funds may have been misallocated or misused under the pretense of supporting youth initiatives. The lack of documentation and accountability mechanisms highlights a breakdown in governance, raising concerns about potential collusion or political favoritism.
The audit has called for immediate reforms in grant administration, emphasizing the need for transparent selection criteria, proper documentation, and independent monitoring mechanisms. Without these essential safeguards, the promise of youth economic empowerment risks becoming merely a slogan, funded by taxpayers yet lacking real impact.
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