GAC Boss Elected Unopposed ECOSAI Chair

Liberia has scored another major regional milestone as the country’s Auditor General, Hon. P. Garswa Jackson, Sr., was on Monday elected Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States Supreme Audit Institutions (ECOSAI).

Auditor General Jackson’s election took place during the Third Meeting of the ECOWAS Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (ECOSAI), held in Accra, Ghana, from October 7 to 11, 2025.

He was elected unopposed by twelve of his regional counterparts and will serve a two-year term.

Jackson succeeds Ghana’s Auditor General, Hon. Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, whose tenure was marked by a series of reforms and enhanced regional cooperation among member audit institutions.

In his acceptance remarks, the Liberian Auditor General pledged to build on the gains achieved by his predecessor and to deepen collaboration among West African audit institutions.

“Our collective mission is to strengthen public accountability, transparency, and the efficient management of public resources across the ECOWAS region,” Jackson stated.

During the meeting, Auditor General Jackson delivered a highly commended presentation on the Establishment and Implementation of an Audit Follow-up Mechanism developed by the General Auditing Commission (GAC) of Liberia.

He explained that the system is built in line with INTOSAI principles and Liberia’s Public Financial Management framework, ensuring that audit recommendations are effectively tracked, monitored, and implemented.

According to Jackson, the mechanism includes a corrective action plan, an audit recommendation tracker, follow-up dashboards, and structured collaboration with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the Internal Audit Agency (IAA), and the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP).

These innovations, he noted, are designed to strengthen compliance, enhance accountability, and improve audit effectiveness across government institutions.

Delegates at the meeting praised the Liberian model as a practical solution to one of the region’s enduring challenges weak enforcement of audit recommendations.

Participants observed that in many ECOWAS member states, limited institutional ownership and lack of executive support hinder the implementation of audit findings.

Ghana’s Auditor General, Hon. Asiedu, shared his country’s experience, citing the government’s strong support, including a presidential commitment to establish commercial courts for audit-related cases.

This, he said, has improved compliance and resulted in significant financial recoveries.

Members agreed that sustained inter-institutional coordination and strong political will are vital to ensuring timely and effective implementation of audit recommendations.

They expressed optimism that under Liberia’s leadership, ECOSAI would advance regional accountability mechanisms.

At the conclusion of Jackson’s presentation, his peers applauded what they called a “comprehensive and innovative approach” to follow-up auditing.

They further resolved to adopt and contextualize the Liberian-developed tools across ECOWAS member states.

The Accra meeting also discussed several other key issues, including the ECOWAS Levy Audit, the Member State 4.5% Community Levy Subvention Audit, and the Collaborative Audit Planning of the ECOWAS Community Levy.

These deliberations, participants said, are crucial for ensuring financial transparency within ECOWAS operations.

Auditor General Jackson was elected alongside his colleagues from Guinea-Bissau and Benin, who will serve as the organization’s first and second vice chairpersons, respectively.

His election marks the first time in several years that Liberia has assumed leadership of a major regional auditing body a development seen as a testament to the country’s growing influence in regional financial governance.

In a statement following the announcement, the General Auditing Commission of Liberia hailed the victory as “a reflection of Liberia’s renewed credibility and leadership in public financial management.”

The Commission said Jackson’s leadership will focus on strengthening peer collaboration, promoting innovation in audit practice, and supporting capacity-building initiatives across member audit institutions.

As ECOSAI Chair, Auditor General Jackson is expected to lead efforts to enhance audit follow-up systems, deepen regional knowledge-sharing, and reinforce the collective role of Supreme Audit Institutions in safeguarding public funds and promoting good governance within ECOWAS member states.