Times Of Swaziland: E64.6M ITEMS UNACCOUNTED FOR AT EDUCATION MINISTRY

E64.6M ITEMS UNACCOUNTED FOR AT EDUCATION MINISTRY
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Nonduduzo Kunene on 24/02/2025 08:08:00


MBABANE – There are questions over items valued at E64.6 million at the
Ministry of Education and Training. The Owen Nxumalo-led portfolio, according to
the Auditor General (AG), Timothy Matsebula, had queries ranging from
unaccounted for taxpayers’ money, flouting of procurement procedures and lack
of accountability and potential financial loss.
Matsebula said over E49 million for the schools feeding scheme is unaccounted
for by the Ministry of Education and Training. The Report of the Auditor General
on the Consolidated Government Accounts of the Kingdom of Eswatini for the
financial year ended March 31, 2024, shows that the Ministry of Education and
Training does not have an official document that supports the E49 350 080 spent
on the schools feeding scheme.
Reported
Matsebula, in his report that was tabled by the Minister for Finance, Neal
Rijkenberg, on February 14, 2024, reported that there was non-accountability of
funds disbursed to the National Emergency Response Council on HIV/AIDS (NERCHA).
The AG reported that an amount of E49 350 080 was disbursed to NERCHA as an
implementing agency for the Ministry of Education and Training, for the
procurement of food commodities, provision of transport and other school
feeding-related items during the financial year ended March 31, 2024.
As per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry and NERCHA,
comprehensive procurement and financial reports should be provided for
Monitoring and Evaluating the implementation of this programme. “However, I
reported that only the unsigned financial report was availed by the ministry
during the audit. Therefore, it was impossible to ascertain whether the funds
were used for intended purposes.
“Section 6(d) of the Addendum to the May 2014 Memorandum of Understanding
signed between the Ministry and NERCHA states that NERCHA shall provide all
procurement and financial reports and other reports as detailed in the previous
MoU. Further, section 0202 (iii) of the Financial and Accounting Instruction
states that the controlling officer should ensure that public moneys are spent
only for the purpose, for which they are authorised,” recited the AG.
Unlawful
The AG his report added that non-compliance with the laws, rules and regulations
may increase the risk of incurring unlawful, wasteful and fruitless expenditure
and also increases the risk of fraud and misappropriation of funds. “I advised
the controlling officer that the ministry should explain why they continued to
disburse funds to NERCHA even though they had not received previous financial
reports for monitoring purposes. The ministry should further provide all
procurement, financial and other reports to my office,” he added.
At the time the AG compiled the report which was eventually tabled in Parliament
the controlling officer in the Ministry of Education and Training had not
responded to the audit queries.  The veracity of the audit queries raised by the
AG will be tested before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in Parliament,
where the controlling officer will be providing further clarity before the
committee and the AG.