Pascalinah Kabi
ACTING Auditor General Monica Besetsa has called on all principal secretaries (PSs) to strictly adhere to the public procurement regulations, failing which they will penalised for any breaches.
Ms Besetsa said due to the large amounts of money involved in tenders, public procurement opened up a host of possibilities for waste and corruption hence the need for strict adherence to procurement regulations which emphasised transparency, open and fair competition among bidders.
She said this in her confidential letters to the PSs in October and November this year.
She said among other things, her office had issued adverse audit opinions on the government’s consolidated financial statements due to various ministries’ failure to properly account for excess expenditure.
“Chief Accounting Officers are expected to ensure that public procurement is conducted solely for public benefit and prices paid for goods, services and work are acceptable and represent good value for the public funds expended on them,” Ms Besetsa stets in her 28 October 2020 letter to PSs.
“On the other hand, suppliers/economic operators/bidders expect to have fair access to markets. They rely on the information disseminated by the public authority and are entitled to be treated fairly and on equal terms with others.
“Due to the amount of funds involved and to the competing interests at state, public procurement is one of the public activities more vulnerable to waste, fraud and corruption.
“My office therefore requests all Chief Accounting Officers to minimise waste, fraud and corruption by adhering to the provisions of the Public Procurement Regulations 2007 and the Procurement Manual meant to enhance integrity in public procurement.”
Ms Besetsa also requested all PSs to adopt measures against conflict of interest and corruption.
“Transparency, open and fair competition disfavour unethical and corrupt actions. Key documents and decisions should be substantiated and published. Clear rules and guidance should be provided. Chief Accounting Officers should define and monitor standards of conduct for business, use pre-qualification requirements, record feedback on experience with suppliers and punish integrity breaches.
“They should be attentive to the conduct of candidates and contractors during the preparation of the procurement, and in particular, during the implementation phase.
“Applying appropriate mechanisms to monitor and control the whole public procurement process will reduce opportunities for integrity breaches. These include clear chains of responsibility in the procurement process, segregation of duties and authorisation, systematic recording, internal controls, reporting tools and checks. Progress and costs of procurement should be monitored and published. Independent oversight, evaluation and audit should be conducted and identified irregularities should be sanctioned.
“I hope these measures will be adopted to reduce the risk of private profits, financial gains and political benefits that can motivate unethical and or corrupt practices of procurement actors,” Ms Besetsa states.
She wrote a follow-up letter on 26 November 2020 warning that “one of the reasons for an adverse audit opinion on the consolidated financial statements of the government of Lesotho is non-regularisation of excess expenditure”.
She said by failing to prepare statements on excess expenditure and submitting them to parliament for approval, some PSs were guilty of contravening section 112 (3) (b) of the constitution which stipulates any excess spending should be accounted for in parliament for the purposes of regularizing such expenditure.
“Contrary to the requirements of the constitution, where excess expenditure had occurred, statements of excess have not been prepared for approval by parliament and therefore the excess expenditure has remained unauthorised.
“I wish to remind you that it is the duty of the Chief Accounting Officer to ensure that his ministry plans and watches expenditure to avoid making payments in excess of the funds available at any given time. Where the excess occurs, the chief accounting officer should send an explanation to the Budget Controller explaining how it occurred and what steps have been taken to prevent a recurrence.
“The minister will cause the explanation to be investigated and decide on surcharge action,” Ms Besetsa states.
She said in terms of the Public Financial Management and Accountability Act of 2011, PSs can be fined the excess amount or M1000 or which is ever is lesser for failing to regularise excess expenditure.
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