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Shocking details on govt expenditure
2007-04-14 09:46:43
By Juma Thomas, Dodoma
The Comptroller and Auditor General`s Office has said it has detected serious weaknesses in the internal financial control system in the country`s overseas missions that have occasioned many cases of questionable expenditure.
The findings were revealed in the CAG`s report for the financial year that ended on June 30, 2006, which was released here on Thursday.
According to the report, a total of 10,007,442,861.72/- paid to overseas missions in 2005/2006 was not adjusted to reflect the actual expenditure in the appropriation account.
It says there was a difference of 3,184,671,966/- between expenditure returns submitted to the Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation ministry and the amount entered in the appropriation account. The amount was never reconciled.
The report also notes that imprests amounting to 1,192,769,919/- and assets worth 1,802,000,000/- held in overseas missions were not accounted for, while a 45,642,220/- payment was made for the maintenance of state cars without funds being appropriated for the purpose.
Seven overseas missions are singled out as having questionable expenditures or having notoriously misused public funds.
In Tanzania`s High Commission in Pretoria, for instance, there was irregular payment of 20,572,143.70/- and unvouched expenditure to the tune of 23,053,700/-, while a total of 95,182,792.60/- was wrongly made from a deposit account and 312,260,173/- spent on the questionable procurement of a house.
In the country’s High Commission in Nairobi, questionable medical expenses amounted to 13,471,820/-, while in the London mission a contractor was engaged for 128,512,000/- without following proper procurement procedures.
The Tanzanian Embassy in Addis Ababa is cited in the report as having made a double payment of incidental allowances that caused ``ineligible expenses`` amounting to 11,783,283/- and the High Commission in Lusaka as having paid 56,681,914.40/- for repairs and security without contracts.
The CAG further reports that at Tanzania’s Embassy in Bujumbura there was improperly vouched expenditure of 61,551,599/- and in the Embassy in Berlin there was outstanding revenue amounting to 1,053,380,000/-.
Going by the report, there was generally massive misappropriation of public funds in the central and local governments, with ministries, autonomous departments, agencies and regional administrative secretariats making disbursements totalling 1,299,696,563/- without proper documentation.
The report also shows that ten ministries, departments, agencies and as many regions made payments amounting to 67,842,326, 800/- in the absence of relevant or sufficient information to establish their validity.
Meanwhile, four regions are reported as having spent 218,713,667/- as ``nugatory expenditure`` and having a total of 1,903,058,747/- in outstanding imprests improperly issued to officers contrary to procedure as of March last year.
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