NDMA CEO DISPUTES UNACCOUNTED E180M, BUT ...

MANZINI – NDMA CEO Russell Dlamini has disputed the auditor general’s report that about E180 million was unaccounted for by the agency.

This is a report that was made by the auditor general (AG), which revealed that about E180 million in the COVID-19 fund was uncounted for in the agency. This had parliamentarians hot in their collars, as they called for an investigation into the agency. Meanwhile, the CEO said the AG’s report was untrue, and that there were six auditors who launched an audit and found that all the monies were accounted for. He further alluded to that the AG, Timothy Matsebula, had even conceded that there were anomalies in his report.

NDMA is an acronym for National Disaster Management Agency. The NDMA CEO, during an event he attended in Manzini, mentioned that there were reports, especially published in newspapers, to the effect that there were monies that could not be accounted for (at NDMA). He recalled that in one of the headlines, it was stated that the money was about E180 million.

“This is not true. The reason why I say this is untrue is because NDMA has been audited six times and it was found that the AG had made an anomaly in his report,” said the CEO. The names of the audit firms that the CEO mentioned have been deliberately withheld because this publication is yet to confirm and obtain commentary from them. “I should say that where the AG’s Office made an anomaly for it to come with a report that there were unaccounted for monies, it has come out to clarify. It was found that all the issues that were raised in the report were resolved. In fact, some of them were discrepancies done by the AG’s office (sic),” Dlamini said.  He reiterated that during engagements with the AG’s Office, they conceded that there were no monies that were unaccounted for.

Meanwhile, the CEO was of the notion that it was true that when auditing was done, there were some housekeeping issues that were then rectified by the agency, as soon as the AG went out the door. He pointed out that this was a clarification that as NDMA, they were proud of their work. “What makes us proud is that there is no money that was lost from the COVID-19 Fund. The six audits that came out clean is evidence enough. It is documented, all money is accounted for, there is no money that was used where it was not supposed to be used,” he said.

Meanwhile, AG Matsebula said the claims by the CEO were untrue. “I do not know the six audit reports, and I don’t believe it is true. I was the last auditor and that is it,” Matsebula said. However, he further mentioned that there was an auditor that had similar findings as his. Matsebula mentioned that this was why Parliament had said there should be an investigation into the agency.

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