No receipts for Stadium users
Treasury Instruction 5.7.1(2004) states that Controlling Officers of ministries, departments and agencies (MDGs) shall manage revenue efficiently and effectively by implementing appropriate processes that provide for identification, collection, recording, safeguarding and reconciliation of information in respect of revenue.
However, Kamuzu Stadium management has thrown all the caution to the wind and does not issue general receipts to individuals who pay to use the facility.
Instead, the stadium accounts department issues unauthorised cash sales, raising questions as to whether the funds are deposited into government’s account number one or not.
All the stadium’s users we interviewed confirmed that they are never issued with the original government general receipt (GR).
One of the users, Charles Ulaya, said he only got a ‘cash sale’ with the stadium manager’s stamp.
He said: “I paid for the stadium access fee on Monday which is a monthly fee of K10 000. I was told they don’t have receipts. I told the guard and manager that I will wait for the receipts [GR]. Today, I was humbly given this cash sale receipt with a stamp of the Kamuzu Stadium manager. Actually, the receipt goes further to thank me for being their customer which I appreciate.
“Out of curiosity is this a genuine receipt? If it is, then where does the money go when collected? The money is collected by guards and not a cashier. When did we swap roles where guards were empowered to be collecting money? I am confused.”
Director of sports in the Ministry of Youth and Sports Jameson Ndalama said they were not aware that the stadium management was not issuing government’s GR.
He said: “We are surprised that this is what is happening. It’s unacceptable. Thank you for notifying us about this. We will investigate the matter to find out why this is the case.”
Stadium manager Ireen Mkoko said she found the system in place when she was transferred from Bingu National Stadium to the facility last year.
She said: “The explanation that I got is that we have so many people using the facility and if we use the GR, they will not be enough. So, as a solution we use the cash sales and reconcile later.”
When reminded that this is against Treasury Instruction 5.7.1(2004) which states that as a Controlling Officer, she is supposed to manage revenue efficiently and effectively by implementing appropriate processes that provide for identification, collection, recording, safeguarding and reconciliation of information in respect of revenue, Mkoko said she could not take any more questions.
“I don’t want to ‘burn someone’s hands up there. So, I will not answer any more questions,” she said.
Failure to adhere to government’s set procedure on collection, recording, safeguarding and reconciliation of information in respect of revenue, is not only isolated to Kamuzu Stadium.
A recent National Audit Report of 2018/19 on sports ministry’s facilities—Bingu National Stadium and Kamuzu Stadium—showed that Controlling Officers fail to account for revenue collected at the facilities.
The report stated that an examination of financial records showed that Bingu National Stadium collected K12 917 788.07 which was supposed to be banked intact, but the actual amount banked was K8 500 000.00, leaving a balance of K4 417 788.07 unaccounted for.
In a recent incident, police arrested Bingu National Stadium officials—an assistant account and auditor—for stealing K5 million meant for hiring the stadium to Prophet Shepherd Bushiri of the Enlightened Christian Gathering.
Bushiri paid K6 million to use the venue for the December 31 2020 crossover event, but when government cancelled the deal and decided to refund the prophet, it was discovered that only K800 000 was deposited in government account number one.
