13 Mar 2017

 Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Mr Eric Molale has requested Parliament to approve P61 million as recurrent budget for the 2017/18 financial year for the Office of the Auditor General (OAG).

Presenting the budget proposals recently, the minister said the recurrent amounts would be used for salaries and allowances, internal and external travel, general supplies and expenses as well as departmental services.

Minister Molale has requested P3.9 million for internal travels, which he said covers transport subsistence, hire charges, petrol, oil and lubricants for vehicles.

He further requested P1.8 million for external travel to allow the Auditor General to effectively play a role in international audit affairs and to undertake audits in Botswana missions abroad.

MP Molale said the department’s development budget of P940 000 has been included in the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration’s overall budget.

He said the amount would be used to cover cost of competency gap analysis, which would form a basis for targeted staff training interventions. The minister said audit visibility was a major deterrent to acts of fraud and corruption.

“Increased audit coverage is therefore imperative in order to dissuade those charged with the custody and use of public resources from any acts of malpractice, fraud and corruption. Government expenditure has over the years grown, hence the need to increase resources for the OAG to widen the audit coverage, particularly in the outstation offices,” he said.

Commenting on the proposals presented before them, MPs said the travel amounts allocated for both internal and external travel were insufficient to allow the Auditor General to carry out her duties.

MP for Kanye South, Mr Abram Kesupile said there was some form of impediment on performance of the Auditor General as the stated amounts remained unchanged from the current financial year although the minister had stated that they were insufficient.

He wondered how the department could be allocated P1.8 million while there were 22 missions across the world, adding that auditing requires time and personnel from multiple disciplines. Mr Kesupile said the P3.9 million earmarked for local travel was also not sufficient and said this was an attempt to impede on the Auditor General.

For his part, Bonnington North MP, Mr Duma Boko said the functions of the OAG were fundamental, hence it has been constitutionalised.

However, he said the OAG has to be an independent body as stated in the Constitution, saying it has now become common for one authority to control the purse and call the tune. Mr Boko said there was need to establish whether government expenditure has derived the right value, hence the need for performance audit.

He said such should be done through an analysis, which should also be followed up by concrete reporting, adding that a number of projects around the country have not yielded any value.

The Bonnington North legislator said some heads should start rolling in relation to corruption as uncovered by the OAG.

He said corruption has become so institutionalised that it escapes the eyes of the OAG. Specially elected MP, Mr Mephato Reatile said there should be performance audit in relation to government projects covering procurement, especially in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) projects.

He said a number of ICT projects costing millions of Pula had been undertaken, but the nation had not derived any value from them.

MP Reatile said while the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was to audit the 2016/17 financial books, the Local Authorities Public Accounts Committee (LAPAC) was behind as it audits the 2014/15 books. He said there was a lot of wastage at councils as the audits were not done on time.

Member of Parliament for Shoshong, Mr Dikgang Makgalemele said lack of performance audit had resulted in waste as some projects were unnecessarily expensive, denying Batswana the much needed infrastructure development.

He said the PAC report should be tabled and debated in Parliament, saying failure to do so was tantamount to abdication of duties by MPs. MP Makgalemele wondered how the minister could request the same amounts of travel as in 2016/17 financial year, yet they had proved to be insufficient.

He further said the OAG should be independent and report directly to Parliament. Gabane-Mmankgodi MP, Major General Pius Mokgware wondered how the OAG would effectively deliver on its mandate with little resources, given that its scope has now increased following the establishment of new ministries, the introduction of the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP) and community development funds.

MP Ignatius Moswaane of Francistown West has also called for the department to be allocated enough resources in terms of staff and funding, saying they should also be given powers to take action against officers accused of mismanagement. ENDS