Finance Permanent Secretary, George Guvamatanga, says the Auditor General’s office “misdirected itself” when it reported findings of how government was paying millions for undelivered goods.
The auditor should have told the public that the government knew about it and was acting, he says, and there should be “no need for this excitement about cars”.
Auditor-General Rhea Kujinga’s 2023 report, tabled before Parliament recently, showed how the government had paid millions for goods – from cars to office furniture – which were never delivered.
On Monday, Guvamatanga and Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube met Parliament’s finance committee, which sought answers on the matter.
The committee is headed by Clemence Chiduwa, a former Deputy Finance Minister.
Guvamatanga says the Treasury’s central internal audit unit, which coordinates audit functions in government, had already flagged the procurement lapses, and insisted that the Auditor-General should have mentioned this.
He says the centralised audit unit, housed in his Ministry, has a job to pick up issues as they happen.
He insists the Auditor General should have mentioned that the government was aware of the missing goods, arguing: “By highlighting it as a finding, I can safely say the Office of the Auditor General misdirected themselves. I’m not saying they shouldn’t have highlighted them, but they should have said government discovered that there were undelivered vehicles.”
However, contrary to Guvamatanga’s criticism, the Auditor General’s audits allow departments to respond to findings. Comments they make are added below each finding.
In some of the flagged cases, the report shows, officials did not respond. Government officials and some suppliers refute claims of corruption, and instead blame currency depreciation for the non-delivery of goods.
In some cases, they have previously said, the amount paid by government in Zimdollars was not enough to cover entire order when the currency lost value.
Guvamatanga told the MPs that the government bought 167 cars last year, and 20 are still outstanding. It is not only vehicles that are missing.
Says Guvamatanga: “We also had ICT equipment, office equipment, and even provisions. People would buy drinks, biscuits, which were never delivered? Where are the biscuits? We had things like various medical equipment.”
The internal audit unit had already uncovered that there were undelivered goods, he said.
“So, all we are saying is that we’ll need to align the work of the Auditor-General with that of the centralised internal audit.
At the moment, the Auditor General is still operating as if we don’t have a centralised internal audit unit.
But we will align them, to make sure that the reports are delivered speedily, and issues that are already known are not reported as if they are new issues. There’s no need for this excitement about motor vehicles.”
NewZwire
