Federal government: ministries and agencies
Office of the Auditor General of Somalia: who checks how public money is spent
The Office of the Auditor General checks the federal government's accounts and reports to parliament on how public money was collected and spent. It is an independent office under the constitution and Law No. 14 of 2023. For 2024 it gave the government's accounts a qualified opinion: fair overall, except for named problems such as port and airport revenue it could not verify.
What it does
The Auditor General audits the accounts of the federal government and its ministries, departments and agencies, and reports the results to parliament. The 2012 constitution names the Auditor General as one of three independent offices, with the Attorney General and the Central Bank (Provisional Constitution 2012, Article 114, via Constitute Project).
The office does three kinds of audit:
- Financial audits: is the government's yearly account a fair record of what came in and went out?
- Compliance audits: did ministries follow the laws on spending, buying, hiring and assets? The 2025 round looked at procurement, staff, government assets and internal controls in 22 federal institutions (Goobjoog, 2025).
- Performance audits: did a programme get value for the money?
It works to the International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions, the global rules for public auditors (OAGS, Audit of the 2024 Financial Statements).
How an audit reaches the public
- The Accountant General at the Ministry of Finance prepares the year's accounts under the Public Financial Management Law (Law No. 17 of 2019).
- The Auditor General audits them and writes an opinion.
- The report goes to the Speakers of both houses of parliament. The audit of 2024 was signed on 30 June 2025 (OAGS, 2024 audit).
- The Auditor General briefs the Council of Ministers, and the reports are published on the office's website (OAGS, briefing on 2024 and 2025 results).
In August 2025 the office released 38 reports from its 2024 work (OAGS).
What the 2024 audit found
The Auditor General gave the federal government's 2024 accounts a qualified opinion. That means the accounts are fair in all important ways except for specific problems it lists (OAGS, 2024 audit, sections 1 to 3):
- Port and airport money: the government received $32.2 million from two concession contracts in 2024: $28.2 million from the company that runs the Port of Mogadishu and $4.0 million from the company that runs Aden Adde International Airport. The government is owed 62.17 percent of the port company's gross revenue and 25 percent of the airport company's. The auditors could not get the companies' audited accounts, so they could not confirm the government received its full share.
- Budget gaps not explained: large differences between the budget and actual spending were not explained in the notes, as the accounting rules require.
- Money outside the budget: six of the 21 audited bodies received $5.05 million from donors that did not appear in the government accounts. The largest were the Ministry of Energy and Water ($2.48 million) and the Ministry of Justice ($1.28 million). Another $9.4 million received by ministries and agencies was listed only in an appendix. The law says all grants must be in the national budget.
Who leads it
Ahmed Isse Gutale is the Auditor General (Goobjoog). The office has published yearly performance reports since 2018 (OAGS, Annual Performance Reports), and set out its own growth plan for 2017 to 2020 (INTOSAI Journal). For the 2021 accounts the office gave a disclaimer of opinion, meaning it could not form an opinion on them (OAGS, Annual Performance Reports).
In the states
The constitution says the federal government and each member state should have their own independent offices, including an Auditor General, for their own budgets (Article 114).
How to use it
- Read the audits: all public reports are free at oag.gov.so, under financial, compliance and performance audits.
- See where the money goes: the federal budget and revenue are explained on Budget and taxes.
- Report a concern: corruption complaints go to the Anti-Corruption Commission.
Its legal basis
Article 114 of the 2012 Provisional Constitution; Law of the Office of the Auditor General, Law No. 14 of 2023; Public Financial Management Law, Law No. 17 of 2019, Article 45(3).
Sources
- Provisional Constitution 2012, Article 114, via Constitute Project · constituteproject.org
- Goobjoog, 2025 · en.goobjoog.com
- OAGS, Audit of the 2024 Financial Statements · oag.gov.so
- OAGS, briefing on 2024 and 2025 results · oag.gov.so
- OAGS · oag.gov.so
- OAGS, Annual Performance Reports · oag.gov.so
- INTOSAI Journal · intosaijournal.org
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