(Seychelles News Agency) - The Seychelles Office of the Auditor General ranked first in a World Bank audit of institutional independence.

Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, received a perfect score out of 10 indicators including legal, financial, mandate, coverage, and operational dimensions. Seychelles shared the top ranking with South Africa. 

The Seychelles Auditor General, Gamini Herath, told SNA on Tuesday that "considering our small size and unique constraints that we are facing as a small island developing nation, this is really a great achievement. In fact, reaching higher grounds such as this ranking was one of the targets I set for my office when I submitted to Cabinet in October 2017 a paper called 'Delivering an Effective Audit Service –Medium Term Strategy 2017-2021'."

He said that the ranking "will go a long way to reassure our international, multilateral and regional development partners, potential investors, creditors, and the international community in general that Seychelles is serious when it comes to governance, accountability and transparency."

The Office of the Auditor General has the mandate to audit and report on the accounts of the Cabinet Office,  the  National  Assembly,  all government departments and offices, all courts and those related to sums of money withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund, all the accounts of any statutory corporation or such other body as may be specified by or under an Act.

President Wavel Ramkalawan congratulated the Office of the Auditor General for the achievement.

"Amidst immense pressures and the demanding nature of your tasks, you have all made Seychelles incredibly proud. I urge all of you to remain focused and continue to serve the country and the people to the best of your abilities. You have the important role of ensuring that corruption is eliminated and taxpayers' contributions are spent appropriately," he said.

Gamini also pointed out that this achievement is a team effort. "I dedicate this big achievement to my small team of audit professionals who have stood by me through thick and thin believing in our efforts to bring about positive changes not only within but also elsewhere," he added.

The assessments for this index were conducted and updated from October 2019 to May 2021, and reviewed internally for consistency.

According to the World Bank, the intent of this assessment was to assess all of the World Bank's borrowers to make available a comprehensive knowledge base for country management teams and the Governance Global Practice. 

However, due to data limitations, only 118 countries were covered in this exercise.