A bumpy ride for Transport

Jo-Maré Duddy - The Department of Transport spent more than N$696.7 million of the taxpayer’s money without the necessary authorisation in its 2016 financial year.

Unauthorised expenditure is a contravention of the State Finance Act.

This illegal spending was one of the reasons why this department of the Ministry of Works and Transport received a qualified audit opinion from auditor-general Junias Kandjeke for its financial statements for the year ended March 2016. A qualified opinion means the department didn’t maintain generally accepted accounting principles during the year under review.

Kandjeke’s report was tabled in the National Assembly this week. He listed various reasons for his qualified opinion.

According to Transport’s accounting officer the department had 14 bank accounts during the 2016 financial year. Only one of these was reconciled. This is not only against treasury instructions, but might also “lead to fraudulent transactions not being detected timely or at all,” Kandjeke said.

The accounting officer said he couldn’t provide information regarding the cash books, reconciliation statements, as well as income and expenditure for the other 13 bank accounts “as he has not been preparing these financial statements as staff members need appropriate training/coaching in order to submit a comprehensive report”.

Staff debt

Transport’s accounting officer submitted a statement of 22 staff members owing the department about N$464 120, of which only approximately N$190 776 was recovered during the 2016 financial year. However, the AG’s audit found that 29 employees with debts were not reported by the accounting officer.

About N$216 000 was paid to the members and ex-officio members serving on road boards throughout Namibia during the financial year. The accounting officer didn’t provide the appointment letters of these members. “Thus, the authenticity of the payments … could not be verified,” Kandjeke said.

Fifteen payments vouchers amounting to N$596 918 for bursaries and student assistance were reported, but only five totalling N$46 490 were provided for audit purposes.

Capital projects, tenders

According to Kandjeke’s report 83 capital projects were reflected in the department’s general ledger. However, the accounting officer only reported 16 with “wrong figures when compared to the general ledger”.

In the previous financial year the accounting officer only reported 11 out of 72 capital projects, also with “incorrect figures”, he said.

During the 2016 book-year Transport was granted tender exemption of nearly N$152.5 million. The accounting officer didn’t provide the actual expenditure and documents of the exempted amount as required by the AG.

Cars, losses

The officer also reported losses and damages of about N$168 563. The audit found that the cases weren’t resolved or reported to the police or the AG.

Eighteen vehicle accidents were reported by the accounting officer. As a result, 15 cars were repaired at a total cost of about N$396 848 and three, with the total value of approximately N$459 171, had to written off. The accounting officer couldn’t provide any documentation with regard to how the liability on the costs to the state properties was handled, the AG report states.

On 31 March 2015 the closing balance on the books of the Government Garage was 4 433 vehicles with a total value of about N$911.6 million. The very next day the opening balance for the new financial year indicated 4 464 vehicles valued at more than N$1.39 billion. “The difference of 31 vehicles and N$480 853 666.43 respectively remained unexplained,” the AG report states.

According to the accounting officer 569 vehicles were auctioned during the year under review, which generated nearly N$120.85 million. Source documents, however, indicate only about N$17.9 million which leaves an “unexplained” difference of nearly N$103 million.