No proper accounting for funds disbursed under school feeding programme in regions 7 & 9

-Auditor General

Millions of dollars spent under the Ministry of Education’s School Feeding Programme in Region Seven and Region Nine cannot be properly accounted for, according to the Auditor General, who has found that in some instances school treasurers had the cash in their personal possession.

As part of the $2.099 billion allotted for dietary needs, the sum of $1.727 billion was allocated for the national school feeding programme, of which $73.644 million was spent for 11 schools in the two regions during last year.

“The safeguarding of public funds was compromised… cash was kept in the personal possession of the Treasurers in eight schools. This unsatisfactory situation could lead to the perpetration of wrongdoing,” the 2017 Auditor General’s report, which was recently tabled in the National Assembly, states.

This was one of four discrepancies found by the Audit Office after an examination was done of the records maintained by the 11 schools; 5 in Region Seven and 6 in Region Nine. A total of 2,189 students benefitted from the programme.

The discrepancies, according to the report, were similar to those detailed in report for the previous year.

According to the report, the Audit Office could not determine whether the sum of $52.512 million received by eight of the schools were deposited intact, given the absence of key documentation, including bank statements.

It noted that it could not be determine whether all funds were properly accounted for in respect of the 11 schools. “Bank reconciliation statements were not presented for any of the schools. The absence of this key control measure can lead to the perpetration of wrongdoing, without prompt detection,” the report said.

It added that there was no evidence of supervisory checks of cash books by the management committee in three schools. Supervisory checks were also absent in the Stock Ledgers and Goods Received Books for six schools in Region Nine, it said, while pointing out that the lack of supervisory checks, which is a key control, can facilitate the perpetration of wrongdoing.

According to the report, during the period under review, net allotment transfers totalled $48.772 million, giving a revised total allotment of $2.050 billion for the programme. According to the Appropriation Accounts, amounts totalling $1.727 billion were spent as at December 31st, 2017, resulting in an unspent sum of $323 million.

The ministry, in its response to the Audit Office, acknowledged the findings. It, however, noted that the school feeding programme is transitioning from being centrally managed to community-based management, which resulted in challenges being encountered. “Notwithstanding this, the Ministry will seek to provide the necessary training to avoid recurrences of this nature. Further, better monitoring will be done,” the ministry assured.

Sharma recommended that the ministry expedites its plans to train the necessary officers of the ministry and committees of the schools and that the ministry monitor the use of the funds provided to the schools.