IPNEWS: The Auditor General of Liberia, Hon. P. Garswa Jackson, Sr., has been elected Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States Supreme Audit Institutions (ECOSAI) for a period of two years.
Auditor General Jackson was elected unopposed by twelve of his colleagues at the Third Meeting of the ECOWAS Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (ECOSAI) held in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, from the 7th to the 11th of October, 2025. Hon. Jackson replaces the Auditor General of Ghana, Hon. Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu.
At the ECOWAS Meeting of Auditors General, Auditor General Garswa Jackson delivered a presentation on the establishment and implementation of an Audit Follow-up Mechanism by the General Auditing Commission (GAC).
He explained that the system has been designed in line with INTOSAI principles and Liberia’s Public Financial Management framework to ensure that audit recommendations are systematically tracked, monitored, and acted upon.
The presentation outlined key components such as a corrective action plan, audit recommendation tracker, follow-up dashboards, and collaboration with key stakeholders including the Public Accounts Committee, Internal Audit Agency, and Ministry of Finance. These tools and processes, according to him, aimed to strengthen accountability, promote compliance, and improve audit effectiveness across government entities.
Members noted after his presentation that, in large part because of a lack of institutional ownership and limited enforcement, the adoption of audit recommendations is still low throughout the region. Citing Ghana’s experience, where robust government support—including the president’s pledge to create commercial courts for audit-related cases—has enhanced compliance and resulted in fund recoveries, the auditor-general of Ghana underlined the significance of executive buy-in in attaining results. Members concurred that maintaining inter-institutional cooperation and political will is essential to guaranteeing the prompt and successful execution of audit recommendations.
At the end of the comprehensive and practical presentation by Hon. Jackson, his colleagues commended the insightful deliberations on how structured follow-up systems can improve audit impacts across the region. They thanked Auditor General Jackson for the unique tools produced and decided to have them contextualized across member nations.
Other key issues discussed at the meeting include the ECOWAS LEVY AUDIT, the Member State 4.5% Community Levy Subvention Audit, and the Collaborative Audit Planning of the ECOWAS Community Levy.
Auditor General Jackson was also elected alongside the Auditors General of Guinea-Bissau and Benin as first and second vice chairpersons, respectively.
