AG CLEARS NDMA OF E11M, BUT 14 MORE QUERIES RAISED

LOBAMBA – The auditor general (AG) has cleared the NDMA of E11 million that was previously unaccounted for.

However, the AG, Timothy Matsebula, found that there were questionable cash-based transfers (CBTs) and other disbursements of funds that were part of the E30 million that was reportedly unaccounted for. This development in the audited reports of the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) was unearthed by a follow-up report that was shared with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday in Parliament. The report was produced after a comprehensive audit that was conducted by the Office of the AG within the agency, which is under the Deputy Prime Minister’s (DPM) Office.

Comprehensive

The comprehensive audit was a follow-up to the entity’s audit queries that were raised by the AG, in the Financial Audit Report on the Consolidated Government Accounts of the Kingdom of Eswatini for the financial year ended March 31, 2021. The audit queries were raised during the tenure of Prime Minister Russell Dlamini as NDMA CEO. Yesterday, after the PAC urged the NDMA and the AG to find each other in their first appearance before the committee in May, Matsebula provided an update that cleared the entity’s E11 455 236.14, that was not accounted for in the Statement of Comprehensive Income about the Emergency Response Projects.

Statements

During the NDMA’s appearance before the committee, the NDMA controlling officer and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Thoko Dlamini, said statements of the agency’s spending were submitted to the AG, but Matsebula stated that he did not have time to go through them. Yesterday, the AG said: “The documents have been reviewed and the correct amount of the total expenditure is E502 014 538. The former CFO had initially submitted a breakdown of expenditure amounting to E513 469 774.14, hence the audit query was raised. However, after the follow-up audit results, the matter has now been resolved.” The agency was also tasked to account for E30 936 887.72 expenditure for COVID-19 Response. The PAC requested the controlling officer to provide the breakdown of the utilisation of these funds, with all the relevant supporting documents within seven days after the adoption of this report by the House, failing which, he will be charged with contempt of Parliament.

Donations

The supporting documents unearthed 14 audit queries that exposed the poor controls of the CBTs. During COVID-19, the country received over E146 million donations. The funds were disbursed to needy households. Each needy household received E700 per month for groceries. The follow-up audit of the AG revealed that almost E30 million of the funds were disbursed through fraudulent practices, while there was also mismanagement in some operations that were linked to the disbursement. Matsebula told the PAC that through close inspection of the submitted documents, it was revealed that COVID-19 food assistance grants amounting to E724 500 were paid to deceased persons. “During my audit of NDMA for the financial years ended March 31, 2022 and 2023, I observed that COVID-19 food assistance grants amounting to E724 500  were paid to deceased persons through MTN Mobile Money.

These funds were disbursed to beneficiaries who were already deceased at the time of processing the payments and were not withdrawn by these beneficiaries. The total amount identified was E724 500, representing the sum of support grants erroneously paid to deceased individuals,” he said. The AG said he recommended initiating procedures to recover the E724 500 from the Mobile Money service provider, as the funds were disbursed to deceased individuals and were not withdrawn. He told the PAC that he urged the agency to implement measures to ensure that no payments are made to deceased beneficiaries in the future.

Secondly, the AG said he uncovered that there were poor control weaknesses in the process of confirming registered cellphone numbers against national identity numbers. “I noted that a single cellphone number was confirmed to be registered against two or three different national IDs on multiple occasions, as shown in the payment records provided by NDMA. “This discrepancy resulted in multiple payments to beneficiaries based on the ID numbers sharing the same cellphone number. The total amount of these multiple payments due to this issue was E35 700,” stated the AG. Matsebula further told the honourable committee that the documentation further showed E21 000 payment was processed using one ID number against multiple cellphone numbers.

“Some ID numbers were paid twice during Phases III, V, and VI. However, the money was transferred to two different cellphone numbers. During the registration process, beneficiaries registered a single cellphone number to receive the grant. “In some instances in the payment records, the beneficiary’s name was not captured. The total amount of the payments processed using one ID number against multiple cellphone numbers was E21 000,” he said.

Matsebula went on to reveal that some beneficiaries were paid three times, while others were paid twice during Phases II, III, IV, and V. This resulted in an uneven distribution of the grants among the beneficiaries, with the least paid receiving only E700 and the most paid receiving E5 600 by the end of the programme.  The total amount of the multiple payments processed during these phases was E422 100. Furthermore, the AG said some beneficiaries were overpaid for the grant, with the total amount overpaid being E5 600. Since payments were made in six phases, a beneficiary could expect to receive at most E4 200 in total by the end of the project.

However, some beneficiaries received more than E4 200 in total. Additionally, 5 786 beneficiaries were paid less than the expected amount, with the least-paid receiving only E700. Matsebula told the PAC that among the overpaid beneficiaries, some were paid three times in each bulk payment.  The AG went on to state that E14 000 of the grant was distributed to unregistered beneficiaries.

“Some beneficiaries who were not registered by the implementing partners during the registration process were paid during the distribution of the COVID-19 support grant,” he said.
Moreover, Matsebula told the PAC that he identified that some identity numbers for beneficiaries paid through the COVID-19 support grant did not exist in the government population register.  The total amount paid under these invalid identity numbers was E105 000. He said that raised further doubts about the authenticity of the beneficiary information.

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