The 15th Governing Board Meeting for the African Organisation of English-speaking Supreme Audit Institutions (AFROSAI-E) has opened in Kigali, Rwanda with a call for Auditors General to help curb cyber crime in their respective countries.

Speaking at the official opening of the meeting with one of the thematic topic on combatting Cyber Crime, the Right Honourable Speaker madam Donatille Mukabalisa said cyber crime was a vice of great concern, and as such, it was imperative that Auditors General remain on top of things when it comes to digital forensic and cyber crime.

The Speaker observed that AGs had been very instrumental in helping Parliaments to ensure that public resources were used economically, efficiently and effectively for the benefit of society.

She said she was delighted that cyber crime was one of the topics of discussion for the meeting as in this era, most public institutions had digital platforms which they were using to carry out their work.

She further observed that it was in this regard that AGs needed to ensure that they scrutinise the public expenditure on these digital platforms.

And speaking earlier AFROSAI-E Chairperson, who is also Auditor General of Sierra Leone, Lara Taylor-Pearce said there was need to continuously offer value to our societies through the audits. She added that AFROSAI-E stood ready to help member countries to remain relevant to the citizens whom they ultimately serve.

Pearce said that the value to citizens can be ascertained through the audit of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which help build strong Government institutions which in turn could improve service delivery to the citizenry.

She also urged Auditors General to assert their relevance by ensuring that they to continue to satisfy their various stakeholders adding that AGs should ensure that their work met the expectations of the greater public who have confidence in their work.

And Host Auditor General of Rwanda Obadiah Biraro observed that the AGs’ oversight role was not a simple task as it hinged on public finance management (PFM) which contributes to development of member countries.

Biraro stated that as the people’s third eye their role should always be to report any deviations to the citizenry in order to improve overall PFM in the country.

Zambia, is represented at the meeting by the Acting Auditor General Ron Mwambwa.