adminThandeka Moyo, Chronicle Reporter
INEPT Government officials have wasted millions of dollars released by Treasury for programmes meant to benefit vulnerable people and the education sector, the Auditor General, Mrs Mildred Chiri, has said.
In her report for 2018, the AG said only one percent of the total expenditure incurred by most ministries was spent on implementing Government programmes leading to failure to achieve service delivery mandates.
Some ministries and departments left monies lying idle until they were recalled by Treasury while others diverted funds for important programmes to pay themselves allowances.
Mrs Chiri said the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare received $9 759 722 for vulnerable households in 2018 but failed to pay the intended beneficiaries until Treasury recalled the funds on December 31 last year.
“The Harmonised Social Cash Transfer (HSCT) is an unconditional transfer of cash entitlements to vulnerable households in order to reduce household poverty, protect and enhance the livelihoods of all vulnerable children so that they refrain from risky coping strategies like child labour and early marriages,” she said.
“However, the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare did not initiate appropriate measures to ensure that beneficiaries received their pay outs. The funds were later recalled by Treasury on December 31, 2018 after realising that no disbursements were effected by the Ministry.”
Mrs Chiri said the non-disbursement of funds deprived beneficiaries of a reasonable standard of life.
She said the Ministry also used some funds meant for Old People’s Homes to pay travel and subsistence allowances.
“In 2017 Treasury released a grant amounting to $100 000 for the development and promotion of the welfare and protection of older persons. The fund administrators disbursed only $38 586 (39 percent) to Old People’s Homes to cater for the welfare of older persons and used the remainder towards administration expenses such as institutional provisions, hospitality and travelling and subsistence allowances,” Mrs Chiri said.
She also bemoaned the failure by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to procure books for the Curriculum Development and Technical Services using $6 million that had allocated by Treasury.
Mrs Chiri said again the money ended up being recalled by Treasury.
“The Ministry received funds amounting to US$6 090 000 to procure books for the Curriculum Development and Technical Services. However, the Ministry failed to buy the books, but used the funds for other purposes,” she said.
“I was not able to ascertain how the curriculum was implemented without the required materials. The Ministry might fail to achieve Sustainable Development Goal Number 4, which seeks to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all.” – @thamamoe
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