REGIONAL secretariats and local government authorities (LGAs) need to develop a comprehensive action plan for the prompt implementation of recurring recommendations and rectification of identified deficiencies in the improved systems, the National Audit Office has demanded.

Charles Kichere, the Controller and Auditor General (CAG), emphasised this in his annual report on the entities, directed at the President’s Office, Regional Administration and Local Governments (PO-RALG), at a press briefing in his office yesterday.

In his annual general report on the audit of regional administrations and local governments for fiscal 2022/23, he stated that stringent actions need to be taken against officials violating laws, particularly in procurement and revenue collection.

During the year, approved budget estimates for PO-RALG, RS and LGAs totalled 8.82trn/-, where 7.61trn/- was released, equivalent to 86 percent of approved estimates.

“This indicates that 1.21trn/- was not released,’ he said, highlighting that release for the current financial year experienced an increase of 85bn/- from 7.52trn/- disbursed fiscal 2021/22.

Own-source revenue collection for fiscal 2022/23 totalled 912.12bn/-, above the 911.86bn/- in approved estimates by 0.26bn/- or 0.03 percent, he said, pointing at a notable increase of 20.29bn/- in own source revenue collection of 891.84bn/- during fiscal 2021/22.

Procurements billed at 4.22bn/- were conducted in 35 LGAs without inviting competitive quotations, where 16 LGAs opted for single-source and restricted tendering methods for procurement priced at 4.87bn/-without reasonable justification, he said in a review of procurement transactions.

Similarly, 13 LGAs procured items worth 1.45bn/- that were not delivered as at the time of conducting the audit despite payments being made, he said.

The contractor and consultant responsible for construction of the Dar es Salaam central bus terminal at Mbezi Luis had not been paid for invoices totalling 8.92bn/-, resulting in interest claims of 2.23bn/-, he said.

Despite the introduction of the revenue portal that facilitates taxpayer access to services offered by local government authorities (LGAs) on a self-service basis (TAUSI) and specific instructions to LGAs to register all point of sale (PoS) devices, plenty of defects were recorded, he said.

The LGAs were instructed to reconcile defaulters from the previous Local Government Revenue Information System (LGRCIS) and utilize all modules within TAUSI comprehensively, the report indicated, examining revenue management.

“There is still 45bn/- in outstanding revenue defaults within the LGRCIS system,’ he said, asserting that this raises concerns about potential revenue loss, particularly as the system is being phased out

Furthermore, a total of 61bn/- remained uncollected from 130 LGAs from various sources such as rental charges for shops, market stalls, house rent, plot sales, refuse collection, business licenses, liquor licenses, leased open spaces, parking fees and other revenue streams, indicating inefficiencies in  revenue collection, the report affirmed.

LGRCIS and TAUSI systems being reviewed showed that revenue totalling 6.2bn/- collected through point of sale machines in 96 LGAs had not been banked into the respective accounts.

Evaluation of deposit account management by LGAs unveiled several irregularities totalling 10.71bn/- in the specific deposit accounts, he said, citing inadequate internal controls as contributing to mismanagement and unregulated payments in various deposit accounts.

Audits in 37 LGAs revealed a surge in suppliers' and employees' claims from 64.87bn/- reported during fiscal 2021/22 to 87.32bn/- reported in the new audit, a notable increase of 22.45bn/-, he said.

This escalation in liabilities primarily stems from incurred expenditures that do not align with the respective LGAs’ liquidity position and delays in settling due amounts, he added.