VERY few of us have the privilege to see the Auditor General’s Report into the Government’s $309 million Economic Stimulus Package (ESP).
Those who do have been given a-never-before-insight into the level of official corruption, which is rampant while ordinary Solomon Islanders suffer. Authorities chose to look the other way.
Auditor General David Teika Dennis has painted a picture that the package – officially intended to address anticipated negative economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic – has taken a trajectory in the opposite direction.
And as it does, the economic return showed zero or zilch from the investment.
Created in May 2020, the ESP has all the hallmarks of a scheme designed to keep the ruling party ‘family’ and their henchmen huddled together, united in purpose. In doing so, it has missed its objective of the ESP by miles.
There’s prima facie evidence which suggests the ESP is nothing more than a give-away scheme. It greased the palms of supporters and like-minded birds of feathers.
In almost all of the cases, there is complete lack of accountability and transparency. Abuse and lack of documentation abound. Not new, of course but no one has the guts as the Auditor General did, to openly discuss official corruption the way he did.
In a word, the ESP is a dud.
The table below provides a snapshot of what 17 Members of Parliament received in ESP funding in addition to other funding and their normal parliamentary entitlements;
| Constituency | Member | Total |
| East Malaita Constituency | Deputy Prime Minister | 3, 300, 000.00 |
| St New Georgia Rendova | Govt Backbench | 2, 450, 000.00 |
| Fataleka | Minister for Planning and Aid Coordination | 2, 000.000.00 |
| North Vella La Vella | Minister for Justice and Legal Affairs | 1, 960, 000.00 |
| North West Choiseul | Minister for Finance | 1, 856, 000.00 |
| South Guadalcanal | Minister for Provincial Govt | 1, 800, 000.00 |
| Temotu Nende | Minister for Forests (till12/2020) | 1, 800, 000.00 |
| West Honiara | Chairman of Caucus | 1, 800,000.00 |
| Central Makira | Minister for Fisheries | 1, 300, 000.00 |
| East Guadalcanal | Minister for Mines | 1,300, 000.00 |
| Hograno Kia Havulei | Minister for Foreign Affairs | 1, 295, 700.00 |
| Temotu Pele | Minister for Rural Development | 1,150, 000.00 |
| Baegu Asifola | Minister for Public Service | 1, 141, 984.00 |
| Shortlands | Minister for Home Affairs | 1, 100, 000.00 |
| Lau Baelelea | Minister for Agriculture | 1, 082, 101.00 |
| Ghizo Kolombangara | Minister of Education | 1, 050, 000.00 |
The Auditor General noted, “The impact of the skewed nature of the funding is that Constituency Development Offices where the Member of Parliament was associated with the government received on average $180 per 2019 registered voter whereas those where the Member of Parliament was not associated with the Government received $89 per 2019 registered voter.
The Report made 13 recommendations to address issues found in the Audit and measures intended to help avoid repeating the same mistakes all over again in the future.
As it is, every financial rule in the rule book was broken. The report has uncovered the level of corruption that continues to thrive while authorities look the other way either by choice or by instruction.
The intention of the ESP was good but those who managed it have taken a wrong trajectory, firing or rather delivering cash payments even to those who never applied for assistance. This is more so in the case of national politicians.
“At the outset I would like to again acknowledge the extraordinary circumstances created by COVID-19, which heightened the inherent risk for expediting procurements and delivery of payments and services at the expense of following established procedures.
“In this case the ESP lacked underlying legislative or procedural guidance for issuing grants on the scale involved with the ESP and had insufficient resources needed to adequately receive, process, pay and document the thousands of applications leading to weaker internal controls,” the Auditor General noted in his 37-page Report.
The ESP was managed by an Implementation and Oversight Committee approved by Cabinet. It was chaired by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury. Its membership included the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, who has since passed, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, Labour and Immigration as well as officers from the Ministry of Finance and Treasury and Prime Minister’s and Cabinet Office, according to the Auditor General.
Take the case of one officer, who signed for and collected $6.8 million for 251 Imprest Account cheques.
“Our stage two verification work identified that the officer also was sometimes involved in encouraging and preparing applications for individuals,” the report said.
“A person should not be involved in both the preparation and approval of a grant as this creates a conflict of interest, or potential conflict of interest, which should be avoided,” it said.
Or take another case where beneficiaries reported being given an $80, 000 cheque and told to take it to the bank to cash it and return the money to the government officer.
“They then gave the money back to the staff member who then handed them $60,000, retaining $20, 000. The recipient did not see the grants form which indicated how much he was supposed to collect as the form had been signed by a government officer,” the Auditor General said.
The Report also showed 2, 000 grant payments were made, but only around 10 per cent or 200 applications could be found for (the) Office of Auditor General review.
“There was no clear responsibility as to whether these were held by the Ministry of Finance or the Prime Minister’s Office where the ESP Oversight Committee was located,” it said.
By Alfred Sasako
