On
November 16, 2007, in Libreville, Gabon, ACBF
and the Government of the Republic of Gabon signed
a grant agreement
of US$3.250 million for the implementation
of a three-year capacity building project to
enhance capacity for financial accountability
and transparency in
Gabon - Programme de renforcement des capacités
des institutions de contrôle
d'état et dinspection du Gabon (PRICIEGA).
The project will strengthen the human capacity
of the Gabonese financial audit institutions
and create an
enabling environment for financial accountability
and transparency in Gabon.
Specifically, the grant will provide support
to strengthen financial accountability institutions
of the Legislature, namely the Financial Commissions
of the Parliament (National Assembly and Senate);
(ii) the Judiciary, that is
the Court of Accounts; (iii) the Executive,
including the Ministry of State Audit and Inspections
- MSAI (Ministère de Contrôle dEtat et des
Inspections); the General Directorate of Financial
AuditGDFA
(Direction Générale du Contrôle
Financier) in the Ministry of Economy, Finance,
Budget, and Privatization; the National Commission
Against Illicit EnrichmentNCIE (Commission
Nationale de
Lutte contre lEnrichissement Illicite); (iv)
the Anti-Corruption OfficeACO (Direction Générale
de Lutte contre la Corruption); the Anti-corruption
Civil Society Organization On Ne MAchète Pas;
and (v) the Program Coordinating Unit. At the
end of the program, financial accountability
in general and
systematic reviews of public accounts of both
central and decentralized entities would have
become common management practices in the public
sector in Gabon.
Furthermore, the program is expected to improve
the transparency of decentralized public institutions,
with transparency as a core criterion in the
evaluation toolkits of Gabons public institutions.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, ACBF Executive Secretary, Dr. Soumana Sako,
emphasized that PRICIEGA testifies to the commitment from all program
participants to the achievement of Gabons national developmental objectives. In
particular, Dr. Sako highlighted the inclusiveness of the program that involves
civil society, the private sector, the executive and judiciary institutions and
the parliament, a clear indication that Gabon is moving towards good governance
and transparency.
Mr. Pierre Amoughé Mba, Minister for State
Audit, Inspections, Anti-Corruption and Anti-Illicit
Enrichment; and Mr. Hugues Alexandre Barro
Chambrier, Minister,
Deputy to the Senior Minister for Economy,
Finance, Budget and Privatization signed on
behalf of the Government of Gabon. Both Ministers
indicated that the
PRICIEGA program has come at the right time
and that it is in line with the fourth pillar
of the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy
Paper (GPRSP) of
Gabon, which is Improvement of Governance.
In expressing their gratitude on behalf of
the Government of Gabon for the continuous
support provided by the
Foundation to their country since 2000, they
gave their firm assurances that the Government
will engage fully towards the realization of
the objectives of the
new program.
Thus far, direct ACBF commitments to Gabon
have reached US$15,688,440. These commitments
consist of the following interventions : Projet de renforcement des
capacités en gestion économique et financière (PRECAGEF), Centre national
dappui aux organisations de femmes du Gabon (CENAF), Projet de renforcement des
capacités de la communauté économique des Etats de lAfrique Centrale (RENFOR),
Programme de formation au management du secteur public (PMFSP), Projet de
création dun pôle régional de formation des régies financières dAfrique
Centrale à lInstitut dEconomie et des Finances (IEF-POLE), PRICIEGA, and
Programme national de renforcement des capacités
(PRONAREC). Gabon also benefits from a number
of the Foundations regional interventions
such as the
Inter-University Post-Graduate Training Program
(PTCI), the regional macroeconomic training
and the debt management programs based in the
West and
Central African Banks (BCEAO/BEAC), PREGESCO
and the AERC Collaborative Ph.D Program, and
the capacity building project for civil society
organizations for
conflicts prevention and management in Central
Africa (PREGESCO). |
