Rari promises audited BOFEPUSU accounts in January
Monkagedi Gaothobogwe | Monday December 14, 2015 16:11
Rari, who has been federation’s SG for two terms, told The Monitor that it has taken a while for the audited financials to be done because the scope of the audit was broadened to go beyond 2012. The report, he said, would cover the period from 2007 to date. According to Rari, BOFEPUSU presented the unaudited financials at the February elective congress early this year, covering the period from 2012, and the participants were informed that the audited financials would be ready soon.
Rari dismissed allegations that some cheque leafs or chequebooks were missing or that some unauthorised persons continue to sign BOFEPUSU cheques.
According to Rari there were instances in the past when new office bearers took some time to change the signatures, resulting in old committee members being asked to append their signatures from time to time.
Rari also explained that all accounts of the federation, including auditing, are the responsibility of the treasurer, and if the accounting is not done, the buck stops with the president
A former treasurer of the federation, who cannot be named due to the sensitivity of his current job, has however absolved himself from any blame for not auditing the BOFEPUSU books. He explained his term, as the treasurer in 2011 was only transitional, as the elective congress was held in 2012.
“There was nothing to account for. BOFEPUSU was still at its formative stage with no affiliates and no funds. During the strike, the funds that sponsored the strike and the court cases were not channelled through BOFEPUSU. Each individual union funded the activities on their own,” said the former treasurer.
Presentation of audited accounts have become a hot topic after one of BOFEPUSU affiliates Botswana Teachers Union (BTU), which contributes P450,000 in subscription annually as well as funding BOFEPUSU’s side projects, became the latest block to call for an audit.
The call from BTU came just a week after a former founding union to the federation, BOPEU opted to pull out of BOFEPUSU citing, among other things, failure to account for the finances from its affiliates.