S&T abuse totals N$1 million a day

EVERY day this year, an average of N$1 million of taxpayer’s money will go towards Subsistence and Travel (S&T) allowances for Government officials.

For the 2009-10 financial year, N$353 935 000 of the budget has been earmarked for ‘payments in connection with travelling, including travel tickets, subsistence allowance, accommodation and other related expenditures’, both inside and outside the country. This does not include internal transport costs, which on their own cost taxpayers more than N$1,3 million each day, or N$488 million for this year.But the question is not so much about the hefty amount set aside for S&T as it is about the abuse of these allowances by civil servants.According to Paulus Noa, Director of the Anti-Corruption Commission, S&T abuse can take many forms. ‘What normally happens is that somebody claims S&T, only to find that the person did not undertake the trip to the said destination. In other cases, somebody might put in a claim for a workshop or conference which they have made up or created, so that they get an allowance for something that in fact does not exist. Or the person goes on the trip, but returns earlier than the set period and does not declare this on the claim documents,’ he says.Noa adds that the ACC has also received complaints about officials undertaking multiple trips for events that do not even fall under their scope, or hoarding travel functions such that others do not benefit.Additional examples of S&T abuse that have been cited by other reliable sources, include officials sleeping in their (Government) vehicles in order to avoid using their allowance for accommodation; sharing hotel rooms on trips abroad with the intention of saving up on foreign currency; and eating ‘canned beef and bread’ throughout their trip so that they can instead use their taxpayer-covered food allowances to buy expensive gifts for their partners/families at home, or to save up on foreign currency to pay off their cars and homes in Namibia.S&T payments are based on fixed amount per day according to a S&T rate policy for different levels and destinations, set by the Public Service Commission. Officials therefore are not accountable for the actual spending, as receipts do not have to be submitted.For a frugal official intent on milking the taxpayer, a large portion of an S&T allowance could therefore go towards financing his/her own personal costs.But even if S&Ts aren’t being abused, cost-cutting measures are in order, given the strain of the global economic crisis.Some of the big S&T spenders in this year’s budget include the Ministry of Safety and Security, with N$74 million going towards S&Ts. This is more than twice the amount spent in the 2007/8 financial year, and does not include the N$6 million going towards S&T spending under the Prisons and Correctional Services vote. Other big budgeters for S&T allowances this year include the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry with over N$49 million, Health and Social Services with close to N$27 million, Education with N$23 million, Environment and Tourism with N$18 million, Finance with N$17 million, and the Ministry of Defence with just over N$15 million.The South African government has started taking measures against S&T use and abuse, with the government last week banning ‘most senior bureaucrats from flying business class or staying at five-star hotels in a bid to curb wastage and free up millions of rands for job creation and social programmes’. Citing ‘insufficient control’ of budgets regarding foreign travel, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, has also issued directives for reduced numbers of officials travelling abroad; the use of video-conferencing for meetings; reducing the number of travel agents used, and hiring less expensive cars when travelling.Noa says additional measures can be taken to improve controls on S&T spending.’Government needs to tighten their policy on S&T. Supervisors should become more strict, and be more clear on the time frame for completing claims forms, as well as on providing reports on conferences, workshops, events and missions attended where S&Ts have been provided,’ the ACC Director says.Noa adds that ‘it should be clear, in bold type’ that contravention of the stated policies and timeframes for stating and declaring the position of such claims constitutes trying to benefit unlawfully from an official government position. Such a contravention is also known as corruption, he emphasises.nangula@namibian.com.na