Ministry caught in illegal spending
The Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security has confirmed spending millions of public funds without the authority of Treasury.
Briefing Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee on the Auditor General’s report on the accounts of government for the year ended June 30 2013 in Lilongwe yesterday, the ministry’s Principal Secretary Samuel Madula said as controlling officer he will enforce measures to improve.
The audit report shows that the ministry’s headquarters purchased goods worth K19.5 million without seeking approval from the Office of the Director of Public Procurement (ODPP), weak fuel management administration system that saw the purchase of K2 million fuel that was not accounted for, misallocated expenditure of K75.6 million and payments without supporting documents at K32.9 million.
In response, Madula said: “The observation from the Auditor General is correct. This occurred because the ministry could not reach the threshold given and we sincerely regret the anomaly.
“The Auditor General has been warning us on the issues and, as a matter of moving forward, we strive to improve on the shortfalls.”
Besides, the audit also shows that apart from the ministry headquarters, some police stations also used money without the authority of the Treasury, a situation Madula said was illegal.
However, he explained that the affected police stations and units had run out of options; hence, opted to use the said funds.
Madula said under the circumstances, where the units and stations were yet to get funding allocations, they used revenue collected and meant for Account Number One.
Among others, Karonga Police Station spent K1.6 million, Nkhata Bay Police Station used up K1.6 million and Chitipa Police Station used K3 million and did not record K2 million for fuel in the fuel register. Mzuzu Police Station was recorded to have spent K2.5 million of the revenue collected money.
Chipping in, committee chairperson Alekeni Menyani said the trend was worrisome, especially considering that the number of public officers knowingly spending without authorisation was on the rise.
He said the committee has observed two major problems in the government system which it would involve the Chief Secretary to the Government to map the way forward and ensure good management of public funds.
Said Menyani: “During the period we have been involving the various departments, we have noted two problems. These are poor filing and [poor] management of records which we believe are causing this country to lose public resources which have become difficult to trace.”
He said there is need to adopt new technologies in filing and information management in all government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs). He mentioned the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs as the only MDA with improved record keeping.
On the police stations using revenue meant for Account Number One, Menyani advised the controlling officer to devise new ways of soliciting funds than using revenue as it is a bad precedent and illegal. n
