This was revealed in a latest special audit report on the
financial management and utilisation of public resources in combating the
COVID-19 pandemic in the country by ministries, government departments and
agencies.
The report was tabled in the National Assembly on Tuesday by Speaker Jacob Mudenda.
In the report, Chiri revealed shocking details on how fake names, identity
documents and mobile phone numbers were used as part of a broader scheme to
siphon part of the over $890 million from government.
The audit was undertaken with the aid of the World Bank in
the country’s six out of 10 provinces, focusing on disbursement of COVID-19
relief funds, management of quarantine centres and isolation centres, among
others.
“The easing of some controls and the streamlining of
processes and procedures to facilitate emergency responses and quick actions to
the crisis, exposed the government to the possible risks of misuse or abuse of
public resources,” Chiri said.
“Inadequate record-keeping was a common feature as the
ministries, departments and agencies did not always have updated or reliable
information on the donations received and distributed, goods and services
delivered and reports on the implementation status of the government
initiatives to fight the pandemic.”
She said incorrect and out-dated information was used
across government departments.
“This resulted in some beneficiaries, including the
government officials, receiving COVID-19 relief disbursements they might not
have been entitled to. This defeated the purpose for which the disbursements
were made as the intended beneficiaries could have been deprived of the
assistance.”
COVID-19 allowances were supposed to be paid to
small-to-medium enterprises whose incomes were affected by lockdowns, food
insecure households, people with disabilities, the elderly, chronically-ill
persons and child-headed households.
Information on the would-be beneficiaries was forwarded to
the Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare ministry through the provincial
social welfare offices.
Investigations by NewsDay exposed how some Zanu PF and
government officials manipulated the system for personal benefit.
On the disbursement of over $89 022 103, Chiri said: “The
main reasons that caused the failure were that the processes of identification
and assessment of intended beneficiaries was not properly co-ordinated,
resulting in unreliable databases of
beneficiaries, processing of payments to duplicate beneficiary names and
beneficiaries who had similar identity numbers, but of different gender and
dates of birth.”
There was also processing of payments to beneficiaries with
fictitious identity numbers and suspicious names, incorrect and insufficient
contact addresses as well as use of similar contact addresses for beneficiaries
in districts.
“No follow-up mechanism was developed to verify the
existence of the beneficiaries and whether the allowances had reached the
intended beneficiaries.
“No feedback in the form of paysheets were provided by the
Public Service ministry head office to provincial and district offices
regarding the names of beneficiaries who had qualified and had been paid the
COVID-19 relief allowances to facilitate confirmation of receipt and
reconciliations.”
On COVID-19 relief allowances for youths, sportspersons and
artists, the AG raised the red flag on the criteria used for selection and
registration of beneficiaries.
The red flag was also raised on allowances paid to
government employees without “competent authority”.
“COVID-19 allowances and airtime paid to government
employees. Seven ministries, departments and agencies in Manicaland,
Mashonaland West and Matabeleland South paid COVID-19 allowances totalling $2
654 089 and airtime worth $22 165 to members of staff reporting for duty during
the lockdown period covering April to July 2020 without competent authority.”
Management of quarantine centres was also marred in
controversy as the cost of food provisions, accommodation, daily upkeep and
transport of the inmates at the quarantine centres was not properly handled.
“There were no clear and documented guidelines on the
process of determining the amount of bus fare to be given to discharge inmates.
In some instances, there was no evidence that the discharged inmates had
received the indicated amounts as they did not sign on the payment schedule.”
On money meant for the drilling of boreholes, she said:
“Out of the 48 boreholes that DDF had planned to drill in the six provinces I
visited, 31 boreholes were drilled, but were not functional as water pumps had
not been installed. Eight boreholes were not drilled, three boreholes were
drilled and water pumps installed, six were dry holes as at December 12, 2020.”
“An estimated total amount of $6 650 000 was spent on the
38 non-functional boreholes. The pumps were not installed due to inadequate
planning and prioritisation to ensure that each borehole is worked on to
completion rather than partly working on many boreholes, exhausting the
available resources.”
Chiri said the objective for which the boreholes were
drilled was not fully achieved as a result.
In some cases, she said there was inadequate capacity
assessment of contractors and there were cases of awarding of several contracts
to one contractor. Newsday
0 comments:
Post a Comment