Kazongominja Accuses National Assembly of Blocking Audit Reports

By:Justicia Shipena
Peter Kazongominja of Aminuis Constituency in Omaheke region has accused the National Assembly of delaying referrals of audited reports by auditor general Junias Kandjeke to the National Council.
Kazongominja, National Unity Democratic Organisation of Namibia (Nudo) councillor for the Aminuis constituency,said that since the last referral of the auditor general’s reports for local authorities and regional councils by the National Assembly to the National Council in November 2019, the parliament has not received any subsequent referrals since then.
He was motivating the tabling of the report of the national council standing committee on public accounts and economy on the review of reports by auditor general.
This comes as the standing committee reviewed reports of the auditor general for one regional council for the financial year ending 31 March 2018 and for various local authorities for the financial years ending 30 June 2016, 2017and 2018.
“Our efforts to obtain clarity on the cause of the delay or the holdup have been in vain so far,”he charged.
In 2007, the national assembly started to refer the auditor general’s audited reports for local authorities and regional councils for review, but he said it seems this tradition initiated in 2007 is being stopped by those at the national assembly.
“Be that as it may, it is our sincere hope that our colleagues at the national assembly will communicate the way forward on this matter.”
At the same time, Kazongominja expressed concern in the national council session on Wednesday over the non-submission of supporting documents by the accounting officers and finance managers at local and regional authorities to the auditors.
“The non-submission of supporting documents by the accounting officers and finance managers to the auditors at the time of audit remains an issue of concern to the committee,”he said.
According to him, the failure to submit supporting documents is always associated with a poor filing system or deliberate attempts to cover the misappropriation of public funds.
In this light, Kazongominja said the committee appeals to local authorities and regional councils to ensure that they keep proper filing of their records and avail them to auditors at the time of audit.
He added that the committee also noted with concern a situation where the elected officials overseeing the local authorities and regional councils are not familiar with the audited reports of their institutions.
Kazongominja stressed that is a worrisome situation as the elected councilors needed to be familiar with the financial status of the institutions they preside over.
“Another notable concern is that cut across many of the institutions engaged was the inability of staff to efficiently execute their duties. In some instances, this was compounded by the existing staff structure and remuneration packages that affect recruitment and staff retention in local authorities,” he said.
The Nudo councillor stated that the committee has recommended to the line ministry to urgently look into the staff structure and remuneration packages at local authorities.