A Good Resolution
By: GWEN LISTERWOULDN'T it be a good idea for government to make a New Year resolution to clean up its act, at least insofar as corruption and irregular and excessive expenditure are concerned? I am absolutely certain this move would be welcomed by the majority of our people, even the most diehard of ruling party stalwarts who believe Government can do no wrong.
ALTHOUGH the most recent report of the Auditor General is pretty
outdated - it applies to the 1999-2000 financial year - it repeats
the litany of complaints of earlier years about irregular and
excessive spending, and in addition there is little to indicate
that Government has cleaned up its act since then.
Among others it revealed that in 1999-2000 the war in the
Democratic Republic of Congo added a massive N$53 million in
unbudgeted expenditure, a considerable sum amount of money that
this columnist, at least, thinks could have been better spent
elsewhere.
In total, for that financial year, irregular spending hit N$213
million, and the former Auditor General again repeated his
often-uttered warning that poor budgeting and lack of proper
financial controls needed to be nipped in the bud.
With this recurrence year after year, it does show that there is
scant regard in Government ranks for any kind of budgeting at
all.
In fact, why bother even to have a Parliament to control and
approve the use of taxpayers' money, if we are not going to stick
to budgets? While certain Ministries were more guilty than others
at exceeding their budgets, even those who are not the main
culprits were fingered by the AG in some cases for even failing to
maintain basic bookkeeping standards.
This is scary stuff and it is probably up to the Ministry of
Finance to set some really stringent standards for other Ministries
to stick to and, of course, to apply the same to themselves, since
that key Ministry was partly to blame for delays in reporting as
well.
For the redress of this sad situation, we also have to look at
the role of the executive.
If one takes the case of the high costs of the war in the DRC,
then it must be said that the decision for Namibia to embroil
itself in that war was one taken by none other than the President
himself, and I guess, in this instance, the Ministry of Defence had
no alternative but to comply.
It is also unlikely even to have been consulted on whether to go
to war.
Unfortunately the over-expenditures are seldom ascribed to
humanitarian factors.
If, for example, the Ministry of Health overspent as a result of
increasing old age pensions, that would be one thing.
At least it is a good and justifiable cause.
But to say that their overspending stemmed from such factors as
increased travel for the Minister, or payments to deputy Ministers
after a mid-year reshuffle, among others, is not acceptable at
all.
The Labour Ministry, among others, failed to keep proper bank
reconciliation statements; the Foreign Ministry had kept N$6
million under 'unknown account' codes; State House kept exceeding
amounts exempted from tender procedures; and so it goes on.
It is commendable that incumbent Auditor General Junius Kandjeke
decided to release findings in an attempt to reduce delays in
future.
In particular this appeared to be targeted at the Ministry of
Finance which has pretty consistently failed to present its
financial reports within seven months of the fiscal year in
question, as required by law.
If accountability were a more revered institution in our
Government, then we could at least make the incumbent Ministers
responsible for these omissions and irregularities, and in fact
this is a position we should move to in order to avoid similar
occurrences in future.
This should apply to all Ministers, regardless of their
political standing, and they should lose their posts if they cannot
themselves stick to the letter and spirit of the law.
Ideally all Ministries would vow to resolve to be accountable in
future, but in practice I very much doubt that the situation will
change, as indictments such as those in the 1999-2000 Auditor
General's report don't seem to be taken too seriously by the upper
echelons of Government.
Among others it revealed that in 1999-2000 the war in the
Democratic Republic of Congo added a massive N$53 million in
unbudgeted expenditure, a considerable sum amount of money that
this columnist, at least, thinks could have been better spent
elsewhere. In total, for that financial year, irregular spending
hit N$213 million, and the former Auditor General again repeated
his often-uttered warning that poor budgeting and lack of proper
financial controls needed to be nipped in the bud. With this
recurrence year after year, it does show that there is scant regard
in Government ranks for any kind of budgeting at all. In fact, why
bother even to have a Parliament to control and approve the use of
taxpayers' money, if we are not going to stick to budgets? While
certain Ministries were more guilty than others at exceeding their
budgets, even those who are not the main culprits were fingered by
the AG in some cases for even failing to maintain basic bookkeeping
standards. This is scary stuff and it is probably up to the
Ministry of Finance to set some really stringent standards for
other Ministries to stick to and, of course, to apply the same to
themselves, since that key Ministry was partly to blame for delays
in reporting as well. For the redress of this sad situation, we
also have to look at the role of the executive. If one takes the
case of the high costs of the war in the DRC, then it must be said
that the decision for Namibia to embroil itself in that war was one
taken by none other than the President himself, and I guess, in
this instance, the Ministry of Defence had no alternative but to
comply. It is also unlikely even to have been consulted on whether
to go to war. Unfortunately the over-expenditures are seldom
ascribed to humanitarian factors. If, for example, the Ministry of
Health overspent as a result of increasing old age pensions, that
would be one thing. At least it is a good and justifiable cause.
But to say that their overspending stemmed from such factors as
increased travel for the Minister, or payments to deputy Ministers
after a mid-year reshuffle, among others, is not acceptable at all.
The Labour Ministry, among others, failed to keep proper bank
reconciliation statements; the Foreign Ministry had kept N$6
million under 'unknown account' codes; State House kept exceeding
amounts exempted from tender procedures; and so it goes on. It is
commendable that incumbent Auditor General Junius Kandjeke decided
to release findings in an attempt to reduce delays in future. In
particular this appeared to be targeted at the Ministry of Finance
which has pretty consistently failed to present its financial
reports within seven months of the fiscal year in question, as
required by law. If accountability were a more revered institution
in our Government, then we could at least make the incumbent
Ministers responsible for these omissions and irregularities, and
in fact this is a position we should move to in order to avoid
similar occurrences in future. This should apply to all Ministers,
regardless of their political standing, and they should lose their
posts if they cannot themselves stick to the letter and spirit of
the law. Ideally all Ministries would vow to resolve to be
accountable in future, but in practice I very much doubt that the
situation will change, as indictments such as those in the
1999-2000 Auditor General's report don't seem to be taken too
seriously by the upper echelons of Government.