Staff Reporter
THE Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) has shed light on a report by the Auditor General (AG) which said that a total of N$260 million from the country’s emergency fund cannot be accounted for and was used for renovations. Reports accused the prime minister of using these funds which are earmarked for disasters in the country for unintended purposes. Rhingo Mutambo, a public relations officer within the OPM, said that no drought funds were diverted towards renovation, and also that N$260 million received into the Disaster Fund is fully accounted as received, and its usage was audited.
“The newspaper reported that ‘the Office of the Auditor General (AG) has found that more than N$30 million was used from the National Disaster Fund to pay for renovations at the old State House as well as security installations and renovations at the Office of the Prime Minister. The Office of the Prime Minister at the end of the 2013/2014 financial year had ongoing projects which included the renovation of the Old State House and of the Office of the Prime Minister Head Office. Funding for these works was included in the budget of the Office of the Prime Minister for that year,” Mutambo said.
He added that these funds were only paid into the National Emergency Disaster Fund (NEDF) due to operational management purposes and ring-fenced therein for its original purpose. “The actual commencement of the said works lagged behind plans until the end of the financial year, caused by various factors such as the finalization of the procurement process. To ensure the continuation of the projects, the funds, which were available for the renovation projects in the budget, were then transferred to the National Emergency Disaster Fund, for the purpose of continuation only. These transferred funds were used solely for the renovations as intended and were fully accounted for,” Mutambo said.
Further to this, the spokesperson of the OPM clarified that these funds were not earmarked for the drought programme, nor was the drought programme negatively impacted. “The usage of the National Emergency Disaster Fund (NEDF) was simply to facilitate the payments, as the following year’s budget did not cater for this allocation,” Mutambo said. He also noted that it is common and normal for the NEDF to receive funding from any source, to support the objectives. The disaster risk management is mainstreamed among many institutions.
Mutambo also clarified on the N$260 million which is allegedly unaccounted for, which were deposited by electronic transfer to the National Emergency Disaster Fund by the Ministry of Finance and were not accompanied by respective supporting documents. “The Ministry of Finance, as the initiator of these transfers, has been made aware of the request for supporting documents,” Mutambo said, adding that the N$260 million were revenues received from the ministry of finance from 2013 to 2016.
“The supporting documents, which the article refers to, relate to documents from Treasury and the supporting bank statements, to confirm that the amounts recorded and received into the NEDF correspond to the amounts in source documents. The Office of the Prime Minister has relied on bank statements, where all the deposit information is indicated. The utilization of these funds followed the approved programmes, and was fully accounted for, and is so reflected in the Auditor General’s report,” the pro concluded.
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