THE Office of the Auditor General (OAG) has uncovered that a whooping $10 million of state funds were unaccounted for in 2011 and 2012 through unretired imprests.
In its 2014 annual report summery, OAG pointed out that retiring of imprests and accounting for expenditures is a problem.
For non-acquittal of imprests, the audit found that more than $10 million have no acquittals.
The report outlined the following ministries as those responsible for the more than $10 million without acquittals.
· Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet – 31 imprests for $1.56 million
· Ministry of Culture and Tourism – 23 imprests for $1.26 million
· Ministry of Education and Human Resource – 28 imprests for $1.2 million
· Ministry of Foreign Affairs & External Trade – 30 imprests for $0.98 million
· Ministry of Communication & Aviation – 16 imprests for $0.63 million
· Ministry of Health and Medical Services – 30 imprests for $0.55 million
· Ministry of Mines and Energy – 23 imprests for $0.53 million
· Other Ministries – 233 imprests for $0.5 million
The OAG however said all those internal control weaknesses do not apply to all ministries but they are common and often significant.
“They contribute to the risk of fraud and misappropriation as well as wastage of resources resulting in deferred projects and poor service delivery.
“Because of these errors and weaknesses, the Auditor General was once again and as in previous years, required to issue a disclaimer of opinion on the 2011 Financial Statements.”
Our OAG 2014 annual report covers the results of audits performed on the national government accounts, the nine provincial governments’ accounts, and thirteen state owned enterprises and statutory authorities during the 2012 and 2013 financial years.
By EDNAL PALMER
