MIIF playing games with 2024 audit report

The Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) has come under intense scrutiny after refusing to release its 2024 financial audit report, even though the Auditor-General has confirmed that the audit was completed and officially signed months ago.

Observers and former board members are raising concerns that the move may constitute a deliberate breach of statutory obligations.

According to a Right to Information (RTI) response dated 5 November 2025, the Auditor-General’s office confirmed that MIIF’s 2024 financial statements had been fully audited and that the audit opinion was signed on 27 June 2025.

The letter, signed by Frederick E. Lokko, Assistant Director of Audit/Information Officer, followed an RTI request submitted by a former MIIF board member.

“Yes. The Service has completed the audit of the 2024 financial statements of the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF). The report (audit opinion) was signed off on 27th June 2025,” the Auditor-General’s office stated.

Copies of the completed report were also issued to the MIIF Board and the Minister for Finance, as required by law.

Despite receiving the audit report over four months ago, MIIF has yet to publish it.

The MIIF Act, 2018 (Act 978) clearly mandates that audited financial statements be disclosed promptly upon completion.

Efforts to obtain the document through multiple RTI requests—including one submitted on 26 September 2025—have been met with repeated refusals by MIIF’s current leadership headed by Justina Nelson.

The Auditor-General’s office also provided context for why MIIF’s audit is absent from the 2024 consolidated report submitted to Parliament: “The current Auditor-General’s report submitted to Parliament covering the 2024 financial year does not include issues (if any) about MIIF’s 2024 financial statement audit.

This was due to timing differences. Therefore, any significant findings… will be reported in the next Auditor-General’s report … in the year 2026.”

While the timing explanation may clarify parliamentary reporting procedures, it does not absolve MIIF from its legal duty to release the audit to the public immediately.

It has been point out that withholding the report constitutes a breach of both the MIIF Act and the Right to Information Act, 2019 (Act 989).

The dispute comes amid months of media coverage highlighting MIIF’s reported profitability and the success of its gold trade programme.

However, the current MIIF management has publicly denied these reports, raising further questions about the transparency of its operations.

Former board members argue that access to the audit report is essential to verify claims of profitability and ensure accountability.