Over $52M unaccounted for under school feeding programme - Auditor General

Over $52M unaccounted for under school feeding programme – Auditor General

Nov 23, 2018 News

In 2017, the sum of $2.099 billion was allotted for dietary under the Ministry of Education according to the Auditor General’s report. During the period under review, the net allotment transfers from Dietary scheme totaled $48.772M, giving a revised allotment of $2.050 billion.
According to the report, the Appropriation Accounts amounts totaling $1.727B were expended as December 31, 2017 resulting in an unspent sum of $323M. The reasons for the unspent sum are reported earlier under shortfall expenditure. The $1.727B included expenditure for the school feeding programme.
An audit examination was done on the records maintained by eleven schools, which included five and six schools in regions seven and nine respectively.
The report said that the sum of $73.644 M was expended on the programme for eleven schools where 2,189 students benefited from the programme.
However, the Auditor General noted the school could not determine whether the sum of $52.512M received by the eight schools was deposited intact, due to the absence of key documentation including bank statements.
The AG also could not determine whether the monies were properly accounted for with respect to the eleven schools.
The report outlined that bank reconciliation statements were not presented for any of the schools.
“The absence of key control measures can lead to the preparation of wrongdoing without prompt detection. The report also highlighted the absence of supervisory checks, which is a key control, which can point to wrongdoing, prompt detection, and the safeguarding of public funds.
There was no evidence of supervisory checks of cashbooks by the management committee in three schools. Supervisory checks were also absent in the stock ledgers and goods received books for six schools in Region Nine.
Moreover, cash was kept in the personal possession of the treasurer in eight schools. This unsatisfactory situation, it was stated, could lead to wrongdoing.
In response to the findings, the Education Ministry acknowledged the lapse in the system.
The Education Minister noted that school-feeding programme is transitioning from being centrally managed to community management.
“As such, challenges will be encountered. Notwithstanding this, the Ministry will seek to provide the necessary training to avoid recurrences of this nature further.
The Ministry promised better monitoring will be done.
The audit office therefore recommended that the Ministry expedite the plan to put the necessary officers in place so that better monitoring of the funds can take effect.

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