By Omar Bah
The National Assembly Finance and Public Accounts Committee (FPAC) has asked the Accountant General’s Department to explain and provide supporting documents for over D1.27 billion expenditures that lack justification, warning that failure to comply will result in sanctions.
Specifically, FPAC identified 32 payment vouchers for capital expenditure totaling D1,517,329,882.42 and 20 vouchers for other charges amounting to D27,360,324.10, all without the required supporting documents, and according to the Committee, the absence of these documents raises serious concerns about transparency and accountability in public financial management.
The Parliamentary Committee’s review also found significant misstatements in government accounts, with discrepancies exceeding D1.27 billion between reported figures and actual records.
“For instance, receivables in Note 17 of the financial statements were overstated by more than D1.28 billion, and inconsistencies were found in cash and deposit balances”, FPAC noted.
It also flagged D62.5 million in cheques recorded as cancelled in the government’s financial system but still withdrawn from bank accounts. The Committee directed the Accountant General’s Department to clarify the status of these cheques within 30 days or face referral to law enforcement.
FPAC further highlighted unauthorised budget virements totaling over D79 million used to create new government posts without proper approval, violating the Public Finance Act of 2014.
Accordingly, the Accountant General’s Department has been given a 30-day deadline from the adoption of the FPAC report to provide all missing supporting documents for the questioned expenditures.
It urged the Accountant General to work with the Budget Directorate to reconcile and correct discrepancies in the 2021 government accounts, ensuring accuracy and preventing further confusion in public financial records.
Virements
The Committee also recommended that the Minister of Finance comply with Section 29(4) of the Public Finance Act 2014 by consulting affected budget entities before making virements.
FPAC further recommended that the Ministry of Finance provide evidence of virement approvals to the Auditor General within 30 days, failure of which shall attract sanctions.
