PS fails to explain ministry's overspending

CHIPPA LEGODIMO
Staff Writer | Monday June 3, 2013 00:00

 

Responding to a question from the chairman of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Nehemiah Modubule, who asked her how the ministry overspent on staff salaries, Thebe responded, 'I have no explanation because it happened two years ago before I started managing the ministry.'

The Auditor General's Report presented before the committee on Friday has revealed some irregularities in spending habits at the ministry.  Modubule further pressed Thebe to explain who authorised the over expenditure to which she responded, 'no one authorised it'.

'We take this very seriously because there are procedures to be followed if you feel your budget does not meet the demands of your ministry.  No one but Parliament can authorise the use of extra funds, which would have initially not been allocated.  Why did you not return to Parliament for a supplementary budget?' Modubule asked.

On Thebe's response that the overspending happened before she took over at the ministry, Modubule reminded her that she had a responsibility to contact her predecessor for explanations.'I contacted those who were there before me, sir, but no satisfactory answer was given hence I do not have any answers for the overspending,' she said.

Modubule, however, was unconvinced.  'Someone should be surcharged for this then.  This is very serious,' he warned.  Thebe also was at pains to explain the many inconsistencies in the figures she presented before the committee.  Although she claimed to have revised the reports before bringing them to the PAC, Thebe struggled to explain why the figures did not add up.

Modubule lashed out at her for wasting the committee's time as she kept consulting with her finance officer for clarifications, which were not convincing either.  The PS's submissions were dominated by 'my apologies' - something that riled the committee.'You have taken an oath saying everything you shall tell this committee is nothing but the truth and you swore by the Bible yet you now tell us that these figures are not correct.  If you did check the report before coming here why are we getting unexplained different figures,' Modubule said.

Asked if she should be treated as a vigilant accounting officer, Thebe answered in the affirmative saying, 'The documents I dealt with contained a lot'.The ministry did not only overspend. There was evidence that P240 million was left unspent in the last financial year while many projects were shelved.'Your failure to spend money allocated to your ministry has cost this nation. Many jobs could have been created as well,' Modubule reminded Thebe.

Thebe conceded that the returning of unspent funds was due to poor management and monitoring of projects.