The report on the Public Accounts for 2011 was yesterday tabled in the National Assembly and revealed continuing abuse of the Contingencies Fund.
Fifteen percent of the $7.69B drawdown on the Contingencies Fund fell afoul of the required criteria, the Auditor General’s report pointed out. The advances from the Contingencies Fund which did not meet the criteria last year were $500M for the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs for the “provision of Amerindian development projects and programmes”, $120M for the construction of a new inpatient facility for the Ministry of Health, $25.5M for the Office of the President to cover expenses for national awards and other events hosted by the state and $500M for the Ministry of Public Works for consultancy, engineering and designs, procurement of four excavators and drainage and irrigation works. During the opposition’s budget cuts this year, the $25.5M allocation for the Office of the President was not approved.
The report noted that Section 41 of the FMA Act dealing with advances from the Contingencies Fund requires that the minister be satisfied that “an urgent, unavoidable and unforeseen need for the expenditure has arisen (a) for which no moneys have been appropriated or for which the sum appropriated is insufficient; (b) for which moneys cannot be reallocated as provided for under this Act; or (c) which cannot be deferred without injury to the public interest…”
The 2011 report said that previous auditor general reports had “highlighted instances where the criteria were not fully met for the granting of some advances”. Some observers today expressed surprise at how the Auditor General’s report characterized the breaches. In previous reports, the Auditor General had cited what he called “abuse” while this year he simply said that the criteria were not fully met for the advances. His 2010 report said “My previous reports highlighted the continual abuse of this Fund”. After a perusal of yesterday’s report, the observers said that the 2011 report appears to have softened language on government breaches and addressed myriads of run-of-the-mill matters.
