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MINISTER REINS IN CTA SPENDING

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MBABANE – The Ministry of Finance has become strict on spending by ministries and the troubled Central Transport Administration (CTA) is no exception.


The ministry has stopped pumping money into the Category A public enterprise for purchases not budgetted for. The core responsibility of the CTA is to purchase, maintain and provide fuel for government vehicles.


Also, the department’s mandate is to dispose of government vehicles.
The Times SUNDAY can reveal that the decision to halt the pumping in of extra money into the public enterprise also comes after damning findings by Attorney General Timothy Matsebula.

CARRYING OUT AUDIT
When carrying out an audit, the AG found that the CTA was operating without a budget; something Matsebula said was against a particular financial and accounting instruction.


“This means that an amount of E644 132 819.77 was spent during the year 2017/2018 without following budget line items which serve as a control of government expenditure,” the AG said in his report for the financial year ended March 31, 2018.


This unlimited spending happened before Rijkenberg’s tenure in the finance portfolio. Impeccable sources informed this publication that Rijkenberg had taken the hard line on  CTA after it was found that the garage would make purchases that were not allocated to the ministerial budget.


The decision taken by Rijkenberg could well explain reports carried by the Times of Swaziland daily newspaper to the effect that the CTA had literally ground to a halt because suppliers no longer wanted to work with them due to outstanding payments.
General Transport Manager Washington Khumalo on Wednesday told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that fuel companies were no longer willing to supply them on credit while other suppliers no longer wanted to give them car parts.


In his report, the AG pointed out that government ministries and departments were allocated budgets at the beginning of each financial year, which served as a guide on how funds should be spent during that year.


“I am concerned that treating this department (CTA) as a below-the-budget-line unit has opened room for the department to spend public funds without a limit, thus contributing to cash flow challenges in the government,” the AG said.

Finacial framework
He referred to Financial and Accounting Instruction number 0101, which states that Expenditure Estimates form the financial framework for the activities of government during the financial year and it was essential that they should be as accurate and realistic as possible and should cover all foreseeable expenditure.


Matsebula also drew attention to the provision of this instruction with regard to the responsibility of the controlling officer (principal secretary) to submit to the Ministry of Finance draft estimates for the ensuing year and revised estimates for the current year in the form and by the dates notified each year by Circular.
The Circular is issued by the Ministry of Finance.

“However, there is no evidence that the Ministry of Public Works and Transport complied with this lawful instruction,” the AG observed. He said when he raised the matter with Principal Secretary Makhosini Mndawe, the latter responded through correspondence dated January 16, 2019 in which he reported that the ministry submitted the budget, which, however, never appeared in the Government Estimates Book.


“I am not satisfied with the response of the controlling officer as he did not explain to me why the department’s budget was concealed,” Matsebula stated.
Setsabile Dlamini, the Communications Officer in the Ministry of Finance, when asked why CTA operated without a budget, said the department operated on a trading account; its operations were budgeted for in ministries and operated by billing ministries.


“Having a separate budget for CTA will result in double budgeting. Worth noting is that all payments go through the checking system and are verified meaning that the same controls apply for CTA,” she said.


She did not answer questions that were based on the concerns raised by the AG following his audit.
Chief Ndlaluhlaza Ndwandwe, the Minister of Public Works and Transport, said he was not aware that Rijkenberg had reined in money from being channeled into CTA but was only aware that the department operated without a budget.


“The non-allocation of a budget to the department is from the background that it should depend on the CTA charges that each ministry has in their budgets. But the challenge is that the CTA charges in the ministries are insufficient. That’s why you find that all ministries overspend on their CTA charges,” he said.   
The fact that the CTA’s budget ‘is concealed’ was even noted by the AG when auditing the department’s trading account in the 2016/2017 financial year where he found that an amount of E528 044 793.66 was spent without an approved budget.


The AG said the CTA has been incurring expenditure through requests made by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport to the Ministry of Finance and the latter would release the funds without issuing any warrants.


“The budget to operate the trading account was also not sanctioned by Parliament, through an appropriation Act, and it was also not included in the budget of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, making it difficult to hold the CTA management accountable for a budget that they do not control. This may result in government spending more money on items that are not government priority,” the AG said.

 

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