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The Auditor General, John Path has vacated his office after his contract was not renewed by the government.
An internal government notice has indicated that an application for the extension of Mr. Path’s contract has not been approved by the Public Service Commission.
“It is with great regret to announce, that the Public Service Commission have not approved the extension of Mr. J Path’s position as the incumbent Auditor-General, while recruitment for the position continues”, the notice reads.
It stated that 17 October 2016, Mr. J Path has vacated the position of Auditor-General on 17 October and the position has been handed over to an Acting Auditor-General (still to be confirmed).
The notice continued to congratulate John Path for his significant contribution since his appointment in 2009. It said during his tenure, we have seen some essential improvements in the Office which contributes to the longer term mission for the Office – “To promote good governance, enhance transparency and accountability in the public sector.”
The list of key developments undertaken during his term in office are:
- Advocating for the increased awareness of the role of the Auditor-General in the public sector with the ever revolving change in government;
- Securing technical support for the Office to develop the strategic and operational needs of the Office;
- Establishing the private/public partnership between the OAG and Chartered Accounting firms to provide high quality audit services;
- Advocating for increased independence of the OAG through the draft Bill’s (National Audit Office bill and the Public Accounts Committee bill), now approved by the Council of Minister’s for adoption in Parliament;
- Increasing the level of competency of audit staff by attracting accounting graduates from 17% (2009: 1 out of 6 staff) to 91% (2016: 9 out of 10 staff) holding a relevant accounting degree;
- Developing the auditing software TeamMate for full use at the OAG by 2014 as it had been sitting dormant in the Office since 2007;
- And most importantly increasing the number of audit opinions by 100%.
Mr. Path’s contribution has been a significant stepping stone to the development of the auditing function for the Republic of Vanuatu. Some challenges that have plagued the Office since the beginning of his tenure continue to be a challenge. In particular, the annual appropriation for the Office has remained the same at VT31M which presents issues in attracting and retaining staff. Stability in staff numbers is absolute key in ensuring the long term sustainability in the technical training of audit staff.
It is believed that the appointment of the next Auditor-General will be important to further develop the OAG progress to date.
Photo file Launching of Regional Report – PASAI Advocate Mr Eroni Vatuloka (right) handing over the regional report officially on behalf of PASAI to Mr John Path Chairperson of PASAI Governing Board