Demo government scores F minus in final exam

The previous Democratic Party Government has scored an “F minus” average in its annual report card from the Audit office for the year ending 30 June 2010.
The report card reads;
Avoiding conflicts of interest, F minus.
Avoiding Budget overspending and poor management of funds, F minus.
Compliance with financial policies, F minus.
The Audit office report tabled in parliament on Friday 18 February 2011 reads like a short horror story and makes one wonder how overseas donor agencies can continue to have confidence in government’s capacity to maintain good accounting standards.
The report card covers the term of the previous Demo government and its administration and it remains to be seen if the new CIP government and its administration can improve matters sufficiently to raise its credit rating with Standard and Poors.
The 2010 report highlights three areas of major concern.
(1) Absence of a Code of Conduct for senior public servants and a Leadership Code for MPs. Such codes would help avoid conflicts of interest and mismanagement.
(2) Budget overspending and poor management of public funds.
(3) Failure to comply with government’s Financial Policies and Procedures Manual to avoid waste, abuse and misuse of limited resources.
The previous Cabinet comes in for a lashing by the Audit Office as it points the finger at the provision of poor advice and non-transparent procedures leading ultimately to large sums of taxpayer funds being mismanaged (Toa ). Audit however sees some light at the end of a dark tunnel with the reactivation of “CAC” the Cabinet Advisory Committee made up of Heads of PSC, MFEM, OPM and Crown Law.
Government agencies themselves suffer at the whipping post for failing to publish and present Annual Reports to parliament. This is seen by Audit as a major impediment to enhancing accountability and transparency. It certainly fails to engender public confidence and good governance.
Audit Office expresses concern that the irregular sittings of parliament has meant its reports do not see the light of day in a timely fashion to enable public scrutiny and debate. In 2011 it will seek to alter the reporting format which currently requires tabling in the House before public release.
Of interest in Audit’s report is a comment on page 26 concerning recurring problems highlighted during Special Reviews. These are;
-Unsatisfactory levels of accountability on usage of public funds
-Conflicts of interest
-Misuse of public funds
-Loss on sale of government assets.
Audit reveal the factors contributing to these recurring issues as-irresponsible attitude of managers to address unethical behavior and improper administration practices, lack of supervision, failure to enforce controls, failure to adhere to policies and failure to address regular anomalies through discipline and corrective measures.
During the year Audit completed 89 reports which included 53 financial audits of Ministries and other agencies and 24 performance audits, special reviews and investigations.

By Charles Pitt

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