Cops owe N$6m in S&Ts

MEMBERS of the Namibian Police owe Government a staggering N$6,6 million in advances for subsistence and travelling allowances, a parliamentary committee on public accounts was told yesterday.

And, the Police were yesterday unable to provide any evidence to the committee of efforts to recover the money. The debt rose to its present level from about N$1,3 million in 2001.”These are shocking figures.It’s a very serious problem.We have to know what is being done to collect this money,” a visibly concerned Chairperson of the committee, Johan de Waal, said.”We get a feeling that we are moving backwards instead of forward as far as public accounting is concerned”.Linus Chata of the Congress of Democrats (CoD) added:”Such situations will in future compel the committee to recommend criminal proceedings against accounting officers… if we don’t take stern action then the oath we take in Parliament [to uphold the laws of Namibia] will be meaningless.”The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Accounts was holding a hearing on the Auditor General’s report on the accounts of the Department of Police for the financial year ended March 31 2001.Appearing before the committee were the acting Permanent Secretary of Home Affairs, Peter Mwatile, the Inspector General of the Police Lucas Hangula, Commissioner Herbert Mootseng and Commissioner Joseph Kamati, who is the force’s financial advisor.Initially the group claimed that the Police had been correcting the situation since the debt that was incurred in 2001, but they were left speechless when officials from the Auditor General’s Office interjected to reveal that nothing had improved as the outstanding S&T advances had now spiralled to N$6,6 million.This prompted members of the parliamentary committee to demand proof that something was being done to remedy the situation and to recover the money.No proof of such action could be provided.According to documents presented at the hearing, some individual officers owe as much as N$180 000.De Waal then called for a special investigation to be instituted “so that we can have the whole picture on the table”.The Auditor General’s report also indicates that the Police department overspent its 2001 budget by N$82 million.Acting Permanent Secretary Mwatile, attributed the over-expenditure to the security situation which prevailed in the Kavango and Caprivi Regions at that time, as well as the generally high crime rate in the country .”The Police incurred high costs in claims, fuel and maintenance of vehicles because of increased patrols to control banditry activities.VIP travels and the number of prisoners [in police cells] also contributed,” Mwatile said.The debt rose to its present level from about N$1,3 million in 2001.”These are shocking figures.It’s a very serious problem.We have to know what is being done to collect this money,” a visibly concerned Chairperson of the committee, Johan de Waal, said.”We get a feeling that we are moving backwards instead of forward as far as public accounting is concerned”.Linus Chata of the Congress of Democrats (CoD) added:”Such situations will in future compel the committee to recommend criminal proceedings against accounting officers… if we don’t take stern action then the oath we take in Parliament [to uphold the laws of Namibia] will be meaningless.”The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Accounts was holding a hearing on the Auditor General’s report on the accounts of the Department of Police for the financial year ended March 31 2001.Appearing before the committee were the acting Permanent Secretary of Home Affairs, Peter Mwatile, the Inspector General of the Police Lucas Hangula, Commissioner Herbert Mootseng and Commissioner Joseph Kamati, who is the force’s financial advisor.Initially the group claimed that the Police had been correcting the situation since the debt that was incurred in 2001, but they were left speechless when officials from the Auditor General’s Office interjected to reveal that nothing had improved as the outstanding S&T advances had now spiralled to N$6,6 million.This prompted members of the parliamentary committee to demand proof that something was being done to remedy the situation and to recover the money.No proof of such action could be provided.According to documents presented at the hearing, some individual officers owe as much as N$180 000.De Waal then called for a special investigation to be instituted “so that we can have the whole picture on the table”.The Auditor General’s report also indicates that the Police department overspent its 2001 budget by N$82 million.Acting Permanent Secretary Mwatile, attributed the over-expenditure to the security situation which prevailed in the Kavango and Caprivi Regions at that time, as well as the generally high crime rate in the country .”The Police incurred high costs in claims, fuel and maintenance of vehicles because of increased patrols to control banditry activities.VIP travels and the number of prisoners [in police cells] also contributed,” Mwatile said.