Audit finds Keetmans lacks internal controls Luqman Cloete AN audit conducted by the internal audit division of the Ministry of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development has found that Keetmanshoop does not have internal controls. The audit, which was conducted from10 June to 28 June 2013, found that creditors’ payment vouchers are processed without being checked, authorised or certified correctly, while in some instances payments were done on quotations, copy invoices and duplicate copies. The audit warned that this practice leads to unauthorised, double payments or fraud, and recommended that payment invoices it had highlighted be made available to the ministry’s internal audit division for verification. The audit also found that the council had overspent on fuel, subsistence and travel allowances, legal services and casual labour votes, and recommended that the council chief executive officer should explain the overspending. It further revealed that some staff members who had travelled on an hour-basis were paid rate two in full. “It is recommended that the said practice should be stopped with immediate effect. It is further recommended that all staff members who were paid in such manner should pay back the money to council and proof of payment should be sent to this office for verification purpose,” stated the report, a copy of which The Namibian has seen. In September 2012 two councillors and a driver were paid for attending a funeral at Berseba, the audit found, and ordered council to recover allowances that were paid for a non-official event. According to the audit, some staff members were promoted without advertising the positions or carrying out interviews. “It was further found that the councillors themselves are the ones coming up with the motion of such promotions and get them seconded among themselves,” the audit report stated, warning that this may corrupt the system. Casual labourers are also appointed on a permanent basis without any recruitment process and some casual labourers even acting in vacant positions, the audit noted, advising that vacant position be advertised so that every citizen and other employees in the council can have a chance to compete. Furthermore, the audit found that there is no vehicle fleet management committee to control activities, a situation which creates a leeway for abuse of council vehicles. Some staff members, the report found, are not remunerated according to positions while some casual labourers were not paid in accordance with the rates the council has in place. In the Build Together Housing project the audit found that some agreements between the council and loan beneficiaries were not signed or fully completed while inspection sheets and progress payments authorisation forms were also not completed before funds were released. The audit said the housing programme was slow in progress and money intended for the programme was used for other activities in 2008. On many irregularities it had pointed out, the audit report recommended that the council’s chief executive officer should explain why these irregularities were allowed to take place. The Mayor of Keetmanshoop, Moses Titus, said he will call a press conference to respond on the audit report.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Oct 2013 10:52:23 +0000
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