OatverinEi2s7trmy doifsHa’o’uesianrgs

MBABANE – Over E27 million is reported to have disappeared in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development while over E90 000 was allocated to a non-existing responsibility centre.

This is contained in the Auditor General’s AG report for the financial year ended March 31, 2022.

In his report, the AG raised Tuery about unrecovered funds under +uman Settlement 'evelopment Account, which amounted to E27 782 882.73.

³I reported that an audit Tuery raised in the previous year on unrecovered public funds amounting to E27 782 882.73 in respect of +uman Settlement 'evelopment, under the Principal Secretary’s 2ffice, was not addressed by the ministry,” he said.

+e highlighted that Section 11, paragraph 1.8 of the )inancial Management and Ac counting Procedures Manual 1993 stip ulated that ³Suspense Accounts were the temporary locations for any transactions where the correct centre and item or amounts were not immediately apparent.”

The aforementioned section went on to state that, after this information became Nnown, the entry would be transferred out of the Suspense Account and allocated to the correct item.

Section 11, paragraph 2.20 further pro vides that ³greatest attention needs to be paid to the reconciliation of below the line accounts as part of the year end procedures since any remaining balances will show in the Treasury 5eport as an asset or liability and will be carried forward to the next financial year.”

According to the section, statements de tailing all balances should be forwarded to Treasury to support the entries in the State ment of Assets and /iabilities and to enable the AG to verify such balances.

Recommended

In his response, the controlling officer in the ministry stated that on the May 27, 2021, the Public Accounts &ommittee PA& recommended that the Eswatini 1ational +ousing %oard should pay bacN the money.

The AG asserted that the controlling officer did not provide him with an update on the status of his ministry’s implementation of the Public Accounts &ommittee resolution.

)urthermore E37 472 was reportedly released to an undisclosed responsibility centres in the reporting year.

³I observed that a budget of E93 268 was appropriated and a budget amounting to E37 472 released to undisclosed 5esponsibility &entres in the Establishment 5egister for the financial year 2021/2022.

³These responsibility centres were not disclosed in the Establishment 5egister ± Supporting the Estimates of Public Expend iture for the financial year 2021/2022, and therefore they were not valid responsibility centres.

³The table provides a list of the invalid 5esponsibility &entres. All 5esponsibility &entres should be reflected in the Estab lishment 5egister for each financial year to support the Estimates %udget of public expenditure for the fiscal year,” he said.

The AG raised concerns that the 5espon sibility &entres that do not appear in the Establishment 5egister might have been abolished or non existing and not for ser vice delivery.

+e said the practice created room for misappropriation and diversion of public funds and results in misinformed budget proMections.

The principal secretary was urged to con firm the existence of these responsibility centres that were not appearing in the es tablishment register and to explain why the responsibility centres were not included in the establishment register, and to eliminate abolished and or non existing responsibility centres with immediate effect, and budget allocations should be made only to the ap proved responsibility centres.