Photo Credit: Helleman News |
An auditor of the National Audit Office, Baba F.
Drammeh, has identified ‘shocking’ financial irregularities at the University
of The Gambia.
Drammeh said the UTG officials have carried out payments
whose vouchers are without adequate documentation, payments without recipients’
signature, procurement without competitive bidding and leave encashment that
amounted to D4, 554, 083.28 (over US$ 119, 844).
In a breakdown, he noted that payment vouchers not
signed by approving officer amount to D171, 955, payment vouchers lacking
adequate documentation is D1, 458, 732, overseas travel allowance at D421,
078.78, payment without recipients signature D134, 180, procurement without
competitive bidding D2, 272, 843.50 and leave encashment at D95, 294.
Though he noted that audit details found that that
are governing council and university senate meetings, he said there is weak
internal audit control, non-presented payment vouchers and payment voucher not
signed by approving officer.
Bai Matarr Drammeh, a Member of UTG Governing
Council, said some of the issues raised by the auditors are sensational due to
lack of information.
But his claim has been contested by Karamba Touray, the
Auditor General, who said the audit was conducted independently and with
impartiality.
Disappointed
The joint Public Accounts and Public Enterprises committees
(PAC/PEC) of the National Assembly which examined the UTG’s 2011/2012 activity and
financial report on Tuesday February 11 – expresses “disappointment.”
“I am disappointed with the type of report before us,
with the caliber of people involved,” Hon Bafaye Saidykhan, Member for Jarra
East says. He urges the UTG staff to cut overseas travels which he said are
prepared without evidence.
He added: “The report indicates that the UTG is run
by groups of people and individuals.
“To be frank, I am disappointed. We do not expect
such irregularities to come from the UTG, a training Centre for the future of
the country. The hope we have for UTG is fading.
“Payment vouchers that are not signed by the
recipients are an insult to the accounts department.”
Serious
problem
Hon. Lamin K. Jammeh, Member for Illiassa, has said
“the University of The Gambia (UTG) has a serious problem that needs urgent
attention.”
“We don’t encourage bulky audit quarries and we urge
the UTG management to pay attention to that,” he said.
Jammeh said the last year’s cumulative difference of D5
million is not highlighted in the report. The PAC/PEC wants evidence to show
that it has been dealt with. Hon. Jammeh said that PAC/PEC expect that come
next year the UTG will come up with accurate accounts and lesser audit queries.
Hon. Alhagie Sillah, member for Banjul North, said
there is no perfect system but the audit queries should be reasonable.
Hon. Netty Baldeh, member for Tumana, said the UTG
is an entity that benefit from public funds and should be held accountable to
the public.
Use
public funds judiciously
“We are very passionate about the UTG. We want to
make sure you use the public funds judiciously and I am disappointed by your
financial outcomes that cannot be explained,” he said.
Kwadwo Ofsuhene, UTG Finance Director, said during
the audit process, auditors were given all necessary information they need to
conduct their work. He said the auditors found 23 priorities high and 3
priorities medium.
Ibrahim Sanyang, Senior Procurement Officer at
Gambia Public Procurement Authority (GPPA), said during their review for
2011-2012 they found UTG mainly compliant with procurement procedures.
Not
perfect
Professor Muhammadou M.O Kah, Vice Chancellor of
UTG, pleaded with the PAC/PEC to understand that the UTG is a young university
and they are striving hard to perfect the situation.He said the UTG is neither a perfect institution nor
is he a perfect Vice Chancellor.
“We are not a
perfect institution nor am I a perfect Vice Chancellor but one thing I can
assure this honorable body [PAC/PEC] is that we at the University of The Gambia
take our assignment very seriously,” Professor Kah said.
He said they have taken note and embraced the
assignments that were given by auditors to look into the queries and concerns
raised by the PAC/PEC.
Hon. Abdoulie Bojang, Speaker of the National
Assembly, said the UTG is a constituency to the parliament and assured them of
PAC/PEC support at all times. He urged them to re-double in their shortcomings.
“We are committed to the cause of the UTG because it
represents all Gambians,” he said.
Nonetheless, the UTG activity report for 2011-2012
was adopted by the PAC/PEC.
Written by Modou S. Joof
Follow on Facebook: The-North-Bank-Evening-Standard
No comments:
Post a Comment
The views expressed in this section are the authors' own. It does not represent The North Bank Evening Standard (TNBES)'s editorial policy. Also, TNBES is not responsible for content on external links.