Africa-Press – Namibia.
The auditor general, Junias Kandjeke, says the audit outcome of the Department of Education in the Ministry of Education, Information, Youth, Sports and Culture is unsatisfactory.
This is contained in the audit tabled early this year and publicised last Wednesday.
The Department of Education budgeted N$15 million for the purchase of furniture and office equipment during the 2023/24 financial year, under its development capital expenditure.
Kandjeke found that N$14 983 630 was misallocated to other expenses.
The audit shows that N$7.2 million was used for tax refunds on capital projects, and N$7.7 million was paid as consultancy fees.
“The outcome of the audit is unsatisfactory as only one out of four key performance indicators (KPIs) was achieved,” Kandjeke wrote.
The ministry underperformed, only achieving 84% execution of the budgeted capital projects instead of the 95% target.
The targeted 100% KPI aimed at developing teachers’ demand and supply model, but there was 0% progress.
Additionally, 100% was targeted towards the production of the Education Management Information System (EMIS) policy, but none was achieved.
Documents
Goods and services were procured, amounting to N$2.3 million.
However, the audit found no supporting documents provided for the audit to substantiate the payment vouchers, such as the number of bidders who responded, the bid opening report, the bid evaluation report, and the recommendation by the procurement committee.
“The audit could not ascertain whether the ministry followed the competitive bidding process and that the payment amounting to N$2.3 million was made to the eligible suppliers,” it states.
The audit also found that an amount of N$2.5 million was paid to a supplier to procure 50 canvas tents using the emergency procurement method.
However, the ministry did not provide documents supporting the emergency procurement.
The education minister and former executive director and accounting officer, Sanet Steenkamp, has told New Era she is yet to review the audit and says it will be presented to the ministry’s executive committee soon.
“A comprehensive scrutiny will be done as a collective of the new ministry, and interventions will be taken,” she said.–[email protected]
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