Officials of the Education Ministry and Health Ministry will be summoned by the Public Accounts Committee to appear before the committee next Wednesday to explain some anomalies which have been continuing over the last few years.
Committee Chairman, Doctor Biman Prasad asked the representatives from the Auditor General’s Office and Finance Ministry present in the meeting about their opinion on how the recommendations highlighted in the Auditor General’s reports have been dealt with by the two ministries.
One of the officials highlighted that the issues are more or less same in the Education Ministry in terms of the Ministry’s current audit done. He says salary over payment still exists in the ministry, most capital projects undertaken by schools funded by the government grants are incomplete, poor management of some contracts and projects, poor supervision and monitoring.
The official said these issues have been noted in the current audit and the audit report last year.
He added some serious issues have been noted in last year’s audit and they are dealing with one serious issue in terms of some purchases done by the Education Ministry which is aligning towards some sort of alleged fraud or collusion between Ministry of Education staff and one of the private suppliers.
He said in past audit reports they have raised some red flags turning into serious fraudulent activities.
He also said in terms of record keeping and reconciliations, they do not see much changes in the Education Ministry’s operations and handling of public funds.
When Dr. Prasad asked about the 2009 Auditor General’s report, another official highlighted that the audit had covered the tuition fee grant.
The Auditor General’s office visited numerous schools around the country and looked at how the grants were utilised and numerous issues were noted.
He said these problems have occurred again in the 2014 Audit report which they are currently working on.
The Auditor General’s office says they have been highlighting these problems with recommendations and the Ministry has failed to adhere to it and improve internal control.
Biman Prasad said the matter needs to be addressed urgently.
Ministry of Finance representative, Sailosi Sawana agrees with the Auditor General that there are over payment of salaries and other discrepancies in the Education Ministry as they had internal audits with the Ministry.
He added during the interviews they found out that there were no additional officers when new initiatives by government like the bus fare scheme and tuition free grant came in.
Sawana said these were additional responsibilities for the Education officer in the district.
He said this added responsibility affects internal controls.
Government Member, Sanjit Patel stressed that the Finance Ministry could have stopped releasing the funds if they had realised that there was abuse.
The Public Accounts Committee meeting continues today.
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