Minister of Social Affairs denies reports she will be chief auditor
Audit Bureau to host INTOSAI-Donor Cooperation Steering Committee meeting
KUWAIT: Minister of Social Affairs, Labor and Minister of State for Economic Affairs Hind Al-Sabeeh denied yesterday reports about the intention to name her head of the Audit Bureau in “a prospected cabinet reshuffle.”
Minister Sabeeh, in a statement, described such reports as absolutely false. “This matter has not been raised at all,” she affirmed. Minister Sabeeh says she is honored to remain serving in her current post, in line with an Amiri Decree, re-affirming that she is pursuing her duties in the ministry as regular.
Upcoming meetings
Separately, the State Audit Bureau (SAB) held a press conference yesterday at its premises in Shuwaikh to announce the upcoming INTOSAI-Donor Cooperation Steering Committee (IDSC) meeting and the Capacity Building Committee (CBC) meeting that will be held from Sept 3 to 6, 2018 at SAB. This is considered the biggest event of the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) in 2018. Various major international audit authorities will be participating in this meeting, in addition to many professional bodies and organizations interested in this field.
The CBC is considered the right hand of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI). “The main tasks of the Capacity Building Committee are to build the capabilities and professional capacities of SAIs through training,
technical assistance and other development activities,” said Abdulrazzaq Abdulkareem, Director of the Control Department on Production and Manufacturing of Oil Institutions during the press conference. “CBC aims to improve the role of the SAIs through developing the qualifications and capabilities of these institutions. It also provides information that helps INTOSAI in deciding issues related to the SAIs’ abilities. It also cooperates with donors and partners in supporting the projects that help building the abilities of the audit institutions’ staff,” he added.
Abdulkareem also spoke about the goal of this meeting. “This meeting aims to highlight the challenges and chances of developing capacities in order to find solutions including reaching donors to support financing INTOSAI. It also aims to strengthen the professional skills of INTOSAI auditors and support the development of local and regional institutions,” he stressed. “SAB is hosting this year’s meeting to benefit from the numerous experiences of major institutions participating in this meeting. The directors of most of these institutions will be attending this event, in addition to many experts and consultants from the field, so SAB employees will benefit from them. Furthermore, various useful workshops will be held and recommendations will be made at the end of the meeting,” he explained.
The role of donors
“Some countries don’t have enough resources to cover their participation in some activities or to organize joint auditing programs with developed countries,
so these countries need financial and technical support to execute these programs in order to raise their technical and professional abilities. So these needs are presented as projects to donors such as the World Bank, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Sweden,” concluded Abdulkareem.
Iman Al-Huweidi, Senior Member of the Technical Office for Auditing Sector of Independent Institutions,
spoke about the activities of the meeting. “About 100 participants will attend the meeting representing 49 countries and institutions. The meeting will discuss many issues including the work abilities of SAIs with weak performance, supporting the HR capital of SAIs, visual presentation of the ARABOSAI, and many other panel discussions, in addition to the various workshops that will be held,” she pointed out.