No improvement in Government garage woes

THE filing system and record keeping at the Government garage are still in a shambles – a situation prevailing for seven consecutive years, according to the Auditor General.

The garage falls under the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication and controls and repairs 3 000 Government vehicles and heavy machinery, most of which exceeded their lifespan “by over 200 per cent”, the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Shihaleni Ndjaba told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Accounts yesterday. During the hearing, the official had to explain again, as in the previous years, why there was hardly any improvement of the situation.”Our committee will visit the Government Garage in due course to see for ourselves,” committee chairman Johan de Waal told Ndjaba.Ndjaba however reported to the MPs that he recently sent a deputy director to the Government Garage to sort out the mess.In its latest report for the financial year ending on March 31, 2005, the Auditor General stated that for the seventh time the financial records of the Government garage could not be audited, “as the filing and record keeping at the garage are in shambles.”With 11 satellite garages all over the country, it was not easy to keep records and forward them to the central Garage office in Windhoek, the Permanent Secretary noted.As a result, invoices could not be sent out to ministries every month for vehicles repaired.He promised that invoices would soon be sent out monthly.”We are busy with arrangements to acquire an integrated fleet and financial management system for the Garage,” Ndjaba told the committee.Other constraints were the age of the vehicle fleet, which needed a lot of repairs.”We received N$30 million to acquire some new vehicles and that will hopefully bring down repair costs,” Ndjaba said.”For the new financial year we will also receive a budget allocation to buy more cars.”On the positive side, the Works Department in the Ministry had auctioned of redundant materials and vehicles at 60 auctions held countrywide, bringing in N$22,5 million.The auctions continue.Progress was also made with setting up an electronic asset register of State properties.A manual register has been brought up to date and tenders will go out soon to acquire software for an electronic asset register.Some Government houses were sold during the year in review and N$38,7 million was earned in this way.During the hearing, the official had to explain again, as in the previous years, why there was hardly any improvement of the situation.”Our committee will visit the Government Garage in due course to see for ourselves,” committee chairman Johan de Waal told Ndjaba.Ndjaba however reported to the MPs that he recently sent a deputy director to the Government Garage to sort out the mess. In its latest report for the financial year ending on March 31, 2005, the Auditor General stated that for the seventh time the financial records of the Government garage could not be audited, “as the filing and record keeping at the garage are in shambles.”With 11 satellite garages all over the country, it was not easy to keep records and forward them to the central Garage office in Windhoek, the Permanent Secretary noted.As a result, invoices could not be sent out to ministries every month for vehicles repaired.He promised that invoices would soon be sent out monthly.”We are busy with arrangements to acquire an integrated fleet and financial management system for the Garage,” Ndjaba told the committee.Other constraints were the age of the vehicle fleet, which needed a lot of repairs.”We received N$30 million to acquire some new vehicles and that will hopefully bring down repair costs,” Ndjaba said.”For the new financial year we will also receive a budget allocation to buy more cars.”On the positive side, the Works Department in the Ministry had auctioned of redundant materials and vehicles at 60 auctions held countrywide, bringing in N$22,5 million.The auctions continue.Progress was also made with setting up an electronic asset register of State properties.A manual register has been brought up to date and tenders will go out soon to acquire software for an electronic asset register.Some Government houses were sold during the year in review and N$38,7 million was earned in this way.