Paying heed to AG’s Report

MONTHLY aid given to the dead, million-ringgit experimental equipment left idle for five years, delayed works, resulting in losses close to RM400 million plus multiple failed projects, costing hundreds of millions – these were among the contents of the recently released “First series of the Auditor General’s Report 2016.”

I believe Malaysians are appalled by such wastages. In fact, “outraged” is a better word to describe how they must have felt.

The issues highlighted in the AG’s Report show there is an urgent need to plug leakages in the delivery system to prevent unnecessary drain on the economy.

The Report is somewhat like the government’s executive transcript. From it, we can evaluate the level of the government’s efficiency and transparency as well as the effectiveness of its monitoring mechanism.

Inefficient management of any government department will inevitably translate into deficient use of tax-payers’ money. It also means there is copious room for improvement in this particular area of the public sector.

According to the AG’s Report, coordination between the bidding procedure and the procurement and construction of projects is often flawed. And it is usually the monitoring system that is found wanting, resulting in the non-provision of services already agreed upon, the failure or delay in meeting deadlines and not infrequently, the repetition of errors.

These issues, usually “manmade,” are not impossible to rectify. But what we often see is the recurrence of similar problems year after year. The obvious conclusion is that the issues have not never been resolved. Perhaps, this is due to the lack of follow-ups and the absence of a mechanism to hold the erring parties to account.

The government is now putting in place different performanceenhancing systems, operational norms, procedural rules and regulations to plaster administrative loopholes. Hence, the next step should be to monitor the departments or officials, cited by the AG’s Report to have been under-performing or worse, non-performing, and mete out disciplinary action if these departments or officials do not buck up.

Failure to follow through on the warning to act against tardy and unproductive departments or officials could result in a ‘tidak apa’ attitude on the part of the errant parties.

“You check what you need while I do what I need” – we certainly can do without such a remiss mindset.

Apart from the penalties for administrative misconduct, the issues raised by the AG’s Report should also be thoroughly investigated, especially pertaining to transparency or the lack of it, and alleged dereliction of duty over project bidding and procurement.

The Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission (MACC) has vowed to study the first series of the AG’s Report 2016. And in this regard, there is every reason to believe the MACC will follow through on its commitment.

With the weakening global economy and the fall in crude oil prices impacting the country’s revenue, funds distributed to the various sectors are, in turn, reduced. In the light of such a downward trend, public institutions should avoid wasting taxpayers’ money by refraining from unnecessary spending. The need for prudence cannot be over-emphasised.

If they were able do this, then we perhaps could look forward a better report card from the AG Office on the performance of the public sector.