The education ministry has been flagged for misallocating nearly its entire N$15-million budget and bypassing procurement procedures, a recent audit report reveals.
“Nearly the entire budget (N$14.9 million) was misallocated. An amount of over N$7.4 million was used for tax refunds on capital projects, and over N$7.7 million was paid as consultancy fees,” the report reveals.
The findings cover the financial year which ended on 31 March 2024.
The audit report further states that the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sport, Arts and Culture procured goods and services worth over N$2.3 million in this period, for which no supporting documents were provided.
This includes documents to substantiate payment vouchers, the number of bidders which responded, the bid opening report, the bid evaluation report, and the procurement committee’s recommendations.
As a result, the audit could not ascertain whether the ministry followed the competitive bidding process and if the payment amounting to over N$2.3 million was made to the eligible suppliers.
The audit also found that an amount of over N$2.5 million was paid to a supplier to procure 50 canvas tents using the emergency procurement method.
The ministry, however, did not provide documents supporting this.
Unauthorised expenditure was also discovered during the financial year under review.
Although treasury approvals were obtained to use certain expected savings for the defrayal of excess expenditure through budget transfers during the financial year under review, eight subdivisions were exceeded with a total amount of over N$13.1 million, which was unauthorised.
During the financial year under review, the accounting officer reported that stocktaking was conducted at 524 stock points.
However, the audit found that the value of the stock was not provided. Furthermore, no stocktaking was conducted at 1 417 points.
The auditors noted with concern that the ministry does not conduct stocktaking at all points and this has been reported for the past seven consecutive financial years.
The audit found that an amount of N$1.6 million was paid to a supplier for emergency procurement without adhering to the correct procurement procedures.
According to the report, the procurement management unit (PMU) at the Otjozondjupa Regional Council scrutinised the general expense and discovered that the right procurement procedures were not followed, which is why the council refused to authorise the payment.
The report argued that the procurement process did not involve the PMU or the procurement committee.
“There are no bidding documents and other mandatory documents such as a certificate of good standing, tax certificate, a good standing certificate from the Social Security Commission, and an affirmative action compliance certificate,” the report says.
The PMU also compared prices from other suppliers of the tents that cost N$779 400, thereby citing that the quoted price from the said supplier is double the actual amount from the last supplier.
No award letter signed by the accounting officer is present, communicating to the supplier and the head office to transfer an amount of N$1 million to the regional account to procure tents.
This quote was higher than the budgetary provision, the report says.
The report says no proof of the punitive measures that were taken against the regional director and the team was provided.
