DUANNAH Siryon, the newly appointed managing director at the National Housing Authority, NHA, has requested the General Auditing Commission, GAC, to conduct a comprehensive audit of the entity.

An NHA press release issued on Monday, April 2, 2018, quoted Siryon as saying that he had asked the GAC to audit the entity from fiscal year 2013 to January 30, 2018.

“We want to know the status of the NHA regarding all projects that the entity had carried out from 2013 along with payroll audit so that we know every employee is receiving his or her just salary and benefits,” Siryon said.

He admitted that the NHA had received a Draft General Audit report from the General Auditing Commission comprising FY2013, 2014, 2015, & 2016 but he had requested the GAC for an extended audit that covers up to FY 2017 period.

He said the audit report received covers NHA’s financial control analysis that his administration was reviewing while at the same time requested for an extended coverage.

Siryon also revealed an introduction of an NHA biometric timesheet tracking system intended to ensure that employees give their best to the entity.

“In a government that is guided by a Pro-Poor Agenda,” Siryon said: “It is necessary for NHA employees to become conscious of their responsibilities to the entity and to the Liberian people.”

He added that his administration is introducing new measures that would include a robust customer service practice. Siryon promised to introduce a new and interactive NHA website that would contain documents about how clients could identify various NHA lands before illegal purchase.

“We will be going digital,” Siryon said. “We want our people to have easy access to our website and to get necessary information that can help them to make informed decisions about their investments.”

The release quoted Siryon as saying that NHA’s development partners were expected to underwrite the cost of the new measures at NHA.

“In this Pro-Poor Environment,” Hon. Siryon said, “we are making sure that our development partners provide us the means and I am to state that we have received cooperation in that respect.”

He said because of the poor financial standing of the country, “We are making sure that our actions are strategic and don’t bring an additional financial burden on the government.”

Besides, the release quoted Siryon as saying that his administration would reshuffle employees to make them more effective and marketable in their areas of specialization.

“What we are saying is that, for example, an employee in another department can be sent to a different department that he or she can have a crash course which could be added on the individual’s curriculum vitae which is an added bonus for the individual for both internal and external promotion,” Siryon said.

“Except otherwise, we don’t intend to fire any employee. This reshuffle exercise should not be misconstrued as a witch-hunt “he said. “We want our employees to be diversified on the job, which will increase their chances for promotion in the future. Employee should be an asset and not a liability to the taxpayers.”

– Apr. 3, 2018 @ 13:35 GMT

AE