News / National
Audit report nails Mugabe's office
16 Jan 2015 at 19:40hrs | Views
The latest Auditor General's report says President Robert Mugabe's office has been violating public finance and asset management procedures.
The report for the financial year ended December 31, 2013 - published last October - says the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) allocated assets to senior members of staff without the authorisation of the finance ministry as required by the law and public property regulations.
It also said staff members abused assets allocated to them. According to the 322 page document, an internal office asset replacement policy on cell phone handsets and laptops adopted on January 4 2013 stipulated that mobile phones must be replaced after six months.
The AG, Mildred Chiri, said in her report that this policy was vague while the stipulated period was too short, making it open to abuse. "The policy falls short on issues pertaining to the value of different staff grades and what would happen to the old one after replacement. Audit considers that the period of six months for a cell phone replacement is too short. Also, cost implications to the fiscus need to be considered," says the report.
Chiri revealed that the OPC issued three officers with new cell phones in July 2013 and the employees got replacements before the six months lapsed.
"Reasons given were that the cell phone handsets purchased initially had malfunctioned hence the need for replacement. However, the malfunctioning phones were not surrendered, in violation of Treasury Instruction 2006 which stipulates that unserviceable assets be considered for disposal by a Board of Survey appointed by the Accounting Officer," said Chiri.
She indicated a possible abuse of fuel coupons worth around $135,000 allocated to OPC staff as they were not recorded in the appropriate register.
"As a result, I could not validate whether all fuel coupons bought were received and duly expended for the intended purposes…There was no audit trail. There is a risk that fuel coupons could be misused and/or misappropriated for personal gain to the detriment of the Office's objectives," said the AG.
There have been reports of OPC senior staff ordering juniors to give them unapproved allowances, fuel allocations and holiday money without following procedures and diverting the funds to uses contrary to the ones claimed. Some of the staff members have reportedly appropriated pool cars for personal and family use.
Chiri expressed further concern that the defence ministry failed to properly manage its property records for the second year running. She said the ministry did not submit asset certificates showing that the various forms of properties in its respective departments had been physically compared against given records.
As a result, she said, this might result in the ministry not being fully accountable for its assets "thereby exposing them to misuse and theft".
"The ministry submitted a department certificate which did not include assets from the Zimbabwe National Army and the Air Force of Zimbabwe. Therefore, I was not able to confirm that assets had been properly accounted for," she said in the report.
The report casts a bad light on the management of the War Veterans Fund, also indicating that some people might be abusing it. It says school fees for war veterans' dependants were being deposited directly into the accounts of ex-combatants' accounts instead of the schools or colleges "as required by best practice".
"As a result, it was difficult to verify if the funds deposited into these accounts were used to pay fees for the dependents. No supporting documentation in the form of receipts were attached to payment vouchers to show that the amounts disbursed by the Fund as education assistance were used for the intended purpose," said Chiri.
To make matters worse, she added, there was no list of dependents receiving the money or the schools to which the money was being paid. As a result, she could not confirm if the education expenditure amounting to more than $17 million under the period being reviewed was properly used.
The report said those in charge of the war veterans fund contravened Section 10 (1) of the War Veterans Act (Chapter 11:15) by failing to keep proper books of accounts and records. It accused the fund of paying fees for non-deserving recipients.
Statutory Instrument (SI) 281 of 1997 states that only war veterans without any other means of earning regular income must benefit from the fees fund. However, one pharmacist war veteran had his child's fees paid from the fund.
In other cases, children above 18 continued to receive fees assistance even though there was no documentation to prove that they had been receiving the assistance from primary school as stipulated by the SI.
The report for the financial year ended December 31, 2013 - published last October - says the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) allocated assets to senior members of staff without the authorisation of the finance ministry as required by the law and public property regulations.
It also said staff members abused assets allocated to them. According to the 322 page document, an internal office asset replacement policy on cell phone handsets and laptops adopted on January 4 2013 stipulated that mobile phones must be replaced after six months.
The AG, Mildred Chiri, said in her report that this policy was vague while the stipulated period was too short, making it open to abuse. "The policy falls short on issues pertaining to the value of different staff grades and what would happen to the old one after replacement. Audit considers that the period of six months for a cell phone replacement is too short. Also, cost implications to the fiscus need to be considered," says the report.
Chiri revealed that the OPC issued three officers with new cell phones in July 2013 and the employees got replacements before the six months lapsed.
"Reasons given were that the cell phone handsets purchased initially had malfunctioned hence the need for replacement. However, the malfunctioning phones were not surrendered, in violation of Treasury Instruction 2006 which stipulates that unserviceable assets be considered for disposal by a Board of Survey appointed by the Accounting Officer," said Chiri.
She indicated a possible abuse of fuel coupons worth around $135,000 allocated to OPC staff as they were not recorded in the appropriate register.
"As a result, I could not validate whether all fuel coupons bought were received and duly expended for the intended purposes…There was no audit trail. There is a risk that fuel coupons could be misused and/or misappropriated for personal gain to the detriment of the Office's objectives," said the AG.
There have been reports of OPC senior staff ordering juniors to give them unapproved allowances, fuel allocations and holiday money without following procedures and diverting the funds to uses contrary to the ones claimed. Some of the staff members have reportedly appropriated pool cars for personal and family use.
Chiri expressed further concern that the defence ministry failed to properly manage its property records for the second year running. She said the ministry did not submit asset certificates showing that the various forms of properties in its respective departments had been physically compared against given records.
As a result, she said, this might result in the ministry not being fully accountable for its assets "thereby exposing them to misuse and theft".
"The ministry submitted a department certificate which did not include assets from the Zimbabwe National Army and the Air Force of Zimbabwe. Therefore, I was not able to confirm that assets had been properly accounted for," she said in the report.
The report casts a bad light on the management of the War Veterans Fund, also indicating that some people might be abusing it. It says school fees for war veterans' dependants were being deposited directly into the accounts of ex-combatants' accounts instead of the schools or colleges "as required by best practice".
"As a result, it was difficult to verify if the funds deposited into these accounts were used to pay fees for the dependents. No supporting documentation in the form of receipts were attached to payment vouchers to show that the amounts disbursed by the Fund as education assistance were used for the intended purpose," said Chiri.
To make matters worse, she added, there was no list of dependents receiving the money or the schools to which the money was being paid. As a result, she could not confirm if the education expenditure amounting to more than $17 million under the period being reviewed was properly used.
The report said those in charge of the war veterans fund contravened Section 10 (1) of the War Veterans Act (Chapter 11:15) by failing to keep proper books of accounts and records. It accused the fund of paying fees for non-deserving recipients.
Statutory Instrument (SI) 281 of 1997 states that only war veterans without any other means of earning regular income must benefit from the fees fund. However, one pharmacist war veteran had his child's fees paid from the fund.
In other cases, children above 18 continued to receive fees assistance even though there was no documentation to prove that they had been receiving the assistance from primary school as stipulated by the SI.
Source - zimbabwean
