The Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs [MoIPA] (formerly Ministry of Amerindian Affairs) has not accounted for expenditure totaling $818 M which was spent from the Amerindian Purposes Fund (APF) in 2015.
Auditor General (AG) Deodat Sharma in his 2015 Report of the Auditor General which was laid in the National Assembly last week, notes that expenditure from the fund totaled $1.012 B, while receipts for those funds were $194 M in total.
“According to the bank statements for the year 2015, the APF had an opening balance of $838.679 M as at 1 January 2015. During the year receipts totaled $193,997 M, while expenditure totaled $1.012 B,” the report states. There was a change in government in May 2015.
The report also notes that the opening balance included $575.420 M, which represented unspent balances of previous years, which preceding reports had recommended to be refunded to the Consolidated Fund, in accordance with Section 43 of the FMA Act. Despite this recommendation, only $92.717 M from the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) hub was refunded as of 1 December, 2015.
In response to the AG’s observation, the Head of the Budget Agency, Permanent Secretary (PS) Vibert Welch stated that, “the amounts were not refunded since the projects were not completed.” The PS further added that efforts were being made to locate the payment vouchers and have same presented for audit examination, and also to have the cash book updated, in relation to the unaccounted expenditure. Sharma also raised concerns about the poor monitoring of millions of dollars allocated to several Indigenous Villages by the ministry.
The AG’s report stated that $39.129 M was issued to twenty Village Councils for various developmental projects, which ranged from the construction of village offices to the construction of a duck pen. Audit checks revealed that all of the funds were paid out in 2015 and 2016, however, up to the time of reporting in September 2016, the ministry was unable to provide evidence that these projects had been completed.
The same concern was raised in relation $10.21 M allocated for musical instruments, and $4.499 M disbursed to three villages to purchase cassava mills, and to construct cassava processing facilities.
$4.482 M was expended by the ministry to procure keyboards, drums, guitars and flutes, while $6 M was collected by villages between January and March 2016, yet no evidence exists to show that these funds were expended for the purposes intended.
In response to the AG’s observation, the PS stated that, “corrective action, with a major focus on monitoring, will be carried out by the Ministry [‘s] Community Development Officers based in Regions 1-10.”
According to the ministry, Village Councils were also notified of the situation at the National Toshaos Conference held in August 2016, and were requested to submit acknowledgements of assets and all projects financed by the ministry.
Further concerns were raised about the $65.811 M expended to purchase solar panels. The report states that the sum had been paid to a commercial bank in relation to a contract signed on 18 September, 2014, between the Office of the President (now the Ministry of the Presidency [MoP]), and a supplier from Italy in the sum of $65.004 M, for the purchase of 25 x 3,000 Watts Peake stand alone Solar Photovoltaic Systems.
“However, the delivery date of the systems could not be determined, since the information was not stated in the contract document. At the time of reporting in September 2016, neither the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs [MoIPA] nor the Office of the President [MoP] could provide any explanation or documentation to verify the status of the contract,” the report states.
The ministry’s response notes that the Head of the Budget Agency has “written to the Permanent Secretary of the Office of the President [MoP] for an update on this issue.”
