The offices of the Prime Minister, National
Commissioner of Police, Defence Department and Correctional Services in
Swaziland are among a string of government departments and agencies that have broken the law by
spending tens of millions of emalangeni on vehicles and transport running costs
without authority.
An Auditor General’s report has uncovered widespread
malpractice that includes fraud and corruption.
The report shows the Prime Minister’s Office overspent
its budget by E2.3 million (or 261 percent); the National Commissioner of Police
overspent by E74.5 million (149 percent), Correctional Services E19.6 million
(199 percent) and Defence E26.4 million (46 percent).
Other big over-spenders were Home Affairs (264 percent),
Health (178 percent) and the Strategic Oil Reserve Fund (120 percent).
Muziwandile Dlamini, Acting Auditor General in the annual
report for year ending 31 March 2017, said, ‘Over expenditures
beyond the budget provision and beyond amounts that have been appropriated by
Parliament are illegal and clearly violate the Appropriation Act as well as
Financial and Accounting instruction 0202 (ii).’
At the core of the problem is the Central Transport
Administration (CTA) whose main functions are to purchase, maintain and dispose
of government vehicles and other related equipment as well as to provide fuel
for government vehicles. It also provides vehicles on short-term hire to
government ministries and departments.
The Auditor General’s report said there was poor
record keeping and rules and regulations were often ignored. ‘As a result,
risks such as theft of fuel and vehicle maintenance parts, overspending on the
budget, funding of authorized expenditure and fictitious transactions were
increased,’ the report stated.
The report highlighted a number of cases of
malpractice. In the Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Affairs two vehicles
had been taken out of service in January 2016. The report stated, ‘However, both
vehicles mysteriously continued to incur charges [for fuel and maintenance] up
to 1 September 2016. I further notified the Controlling Officer that the charges
were monthly and were of the same amount each month.’ The costs totalled
E46,268.
The report added, ‘I am therefore, very concerned that
as it stands, I am not convinced that the costs incurred were justified and
hence cannot rule out that the costs incurred were for stolen fuel and vehicle
maintenance parts, unauthorized vehicles, abused vehicles or fictitious
transactions. The Controlling Officer
neglected his duty to ensure regular reconciliation of vehicle records with CTA
charges in order to identify and correct anomalies promptly.’
At the Ministry of Defence it was discovered that one
Isuzu vehicle was refuelled with 600 litres at a single fill although its tank
had a maximum capacity of 70 litres.
In an audit of the CTA Trading Account the Auditor
General found E528 million had been
spent in 2016-2017 without an approved budget. ‘The Central Transport
Administration has been incurring expenditure through requests made by the
Ministry of Public Works and Transport to the Ministry of Finance, which then
releases funds without issuing Warrants.
‘The budget to operate the trading account was also
not sanctioned by Parliament, through an appropriation Act, and it was also not
included in the budget of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, making it
difficult to hold the CTA management accountable for a budget that they do not
control. This may result in Government
spending more money on items that are not Government priority.’
The Auditor General stated, ‘There was no way the CTA
could be evaluated, in terms of financial performance, to determine whether the
CTA provides returns on Government’s investment, from its trading activities or
whether it is becoming a financial drain on public funds.’
During the audit it was discovered that a total of
1.75 million litres of fuel, valued at E19.53 million were not accounted for by
CTA. The Auditor General reported, ‘I am concerned that by its nature, fuel is
an attractive item of stores which may be subject to abuse or theft if not
properly accounted for and controlled.’
The CTA has been riddled with corruption for years. In
2013 former
General Transport Manager Polycarp Dlamini was
sentenced to seven years in jail for his role in defrauding the
department around E11 million.
In December 2012, Ntuthuko Dlamini, Minister of
Public Works and Transport, told parliament that
close to E3 billion of taxpayers’ money went into investigating corruption at
the CTA dating back to the 1990s. The Times of Swaziland reported, ‘He said
ever since the problems of corruption surfaced at CTA, many specialists were
hired over the years to do forensic audits, but, unfortunately, crucial
recommendations were never implemented.’
In August 2013 when CTA was reported to be running a
deficit of E400 million Dlamini announced it would be
converted into a parastatal like the Swaziland Posts and Telecommunications
Corporation (SPTC) and Swaziland Electricity Company (SEC). It would be led by
a Chief Executive Officer and also have a Chief Financial Officer.
The Times reported, ‘Such a
transformation is envisaged to bring about sweeping changes expected to
eliminate the many misdeeds that went on at the CTA, including the disciplinary
of wayward staff.’
The parastatal was to be called Central Transport Organisation. An Act
of Parliament was gazetted in 2013 to allow this to happen, but to date the
change has not gone through.
See also
SWAZILAND
‘RIDDLED WITH CORRUPTION’
GOVT
MINISTRIES IN FINANCIAL MESS
https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/govt-ministries-in-financial-mess.html
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