Thinni government wants Audit Bureau to ease rules in view of exceptional circumstances

By Libya Herald reporter.

Tunis, 8 March 2015:

Prime Minister Abdullah Thinni’s cabinet, the only internationally recognized government in Libya, discussed the spending restritions put on it by the Audit Bureau which are handicapping some Ministries.

As a result, the government decided at its cabinet meeting held in Al-Beida yesterday, to task some Ministers with organizing a meeting with the Audit Bureau in order to discuss some of these restrictions.

The cabinet questions the need for some of the Audit Bureau spending restrictions in light of the exceptional circumstances that Libya was going through.

The government was hoping to reach a compromise with the Audit Bureau on a way of enabling the Ministries of executing their duties and responsibilities towards the Libyan citizen, while at the same time ensuring the safekeeping of public funds and its disbursement for urgent necessities that the country needs such as medicines, foodstuffs, security and defence needs.

It will be recalled that there has been an ongoing tug of war between successive governments since the 2011 revolution and the Audit Bureau as the latter has attempted to impose control on government spending and procedure in the aftermath of the chaos and collapse of institutions and bureaucracies that ensued after the revolution.

Moreover, until a constitution is drafted and a fully mandated government is elected, successive governments since 2011 have had to continue to work using Qaddafi-era Audit Bureau regulations and legislation.

It must also be recalled that the GNC-Libya Dawn militia occupation of Tripoli in the summer of 2014 has further weakened Libya’s fragile and nascent institutions as both opposing political coalitions have now set up parallel Central Bank of Libya Governors, Audit Bureau heads, as well as the two contending Prime Ministers, governments and parliaments.

  [/restrict]