Trade and Industry should plan better, says AG

THE Ministry of Trade and Industry does not have a strategic plan to direct its operations or to realise the needs, problems and challenges facing it, Auditor General (AG) Junias Kandjeke said in his latest report on the Ministry’s accounts.

‘It is strongly recommended that the accounting officer put a strategic plan in place to assist the Ministry is achieving its objectives,’ Kandjeke said in his AG report on Trade and Industry for the year ended March 2011, tabled in Parliament last week.The AG also rapped the Ministry over the knuckles for failing to spent about N$34,9 million of its approved budget for 2010-11. Underexpenditure amounted to seven per cent of the Ministry’s budget, while the acceptable level is two per cent, the AG said.’These resources could have been used for other projects in the country,’ he said. The accounting officer should ‘implement proper measures to control the budget’, he said.Unfilled posts contributed to the under-expenditure. The Ministry budgeted for Namibia to open commercial offices in Paris, China, Cape Town and Kuala Lumpur, and have commercial councillors in these cities, but these plans didn’t materialise.’Plans to market Namibia were scaled down [and] resulted in this massive underexpenditure,’ the AG report said.Other factors contributing to the under-expenditure were strict control measures put in place for vehicle use, stationary and cleaning materials, telephone costs and maintenance.Travel ‘reprioritisation’ was also done, resulting in some trips being cancelled and only ‘important local and international’ made. The Ministry budgeted N$14,8 million expenses in 2010-11, of which nearly N$13 million was spent.At the end of the financial year, the Ministry’s accounting officer reported outstanding subsistence and travelling advances of N$276 571. Treasury regulations stipulate that S&T advances should be processed within 30 days after returning from a trip. If not, these advances should be recovered from the employee’s salary immediately, the AG said.The report further said that outstanding S&T advances on the Ministry’s books actually amount to N$717 787. The discrepancy stems from a figure that was taken from the old fund control system to the new integrated management system. As this figure was transferred as a lump sum, it is difficult to reconcile, the accounting officer told the AG’s team.