CAG: Exemplary performance in public spending

DODOMA: THE government has tabled in the National Assembly the annual performance national audit reports by the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) for the year ending June 2024, which among other issues has indicated an exemplary performance in public spending.

Save for at least a few areas where the CAG uncovered financial irregularities, the reports indicate that the trend in utilisation of public funds is generally superb.

The CAG reports were presented in the House by Finance Minister, Dr Mwigulu Nchemba earlier yesterday. later, CAG Charles Kichere addressed journalists in Dodoma to provide brief snapshots of what is contained in the reports.

The new development came just a few days after Mr Kichere presented the reports to President Samia Suluhu Hassan at State House in Dar es Salaam.

He later presented them to the National Assembly to fulfil the requirements of the constitution.

The reports, according to the CAG, contain findings, conclusions and recommendations that are directed to competent authorities.

According to him, the performance audit reports presented in the august House yesterday include financial audits, technical audit, efficiency and performance audit report on the Cost Effectiveness of Internally Developed Government ICT Systems.

“A total of 1,485 audited reports were conducted in the 2023/24 financial year, therefore, I provided 1,301 audit opinions which show a steady increase of 1,291 audit opinions that I provided in 2022/23, and, of these, 1,295 (99.5 per cent) were unqualified, five (0.4 per cent) had concerns and one (0.1 per cent) was an adverse opinion,’’ he said, adding that there was no institution that he provided disclaimer of opinion.

Despite the shortcomings mentioned in the reports, the CAG said that overall, there was unquestionable increase in efficiency in the management of government resources.

This is encouraging because it shows that we have made progress in promoting transparency and accountability,” she said.

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The CAG also acknowledged that while some of the issues raised in the reports stem from long-standing problems, government efforts have led to improvements in financial management.

“The encouraging part is that, overall, there has been a noticeable increase in efficiency in managing government resources, despite the challenges highlighted. Many of the weaknesses pointed out have existed for years, but the trend shows great progress,” he added.

Mr Kichere outlined at least 12 issues that he came across when preparing the audit reports, among them increased interest cost amounting to 71.47bn/- that is affecting the implementation of development projects.

“My analysis found out that there was an increase in cost of about 36.12bn/- in the implementation of projects,’’ he said.

The CAG further revealed that audits conducted in 12 out of 217 parastatals uncovered inefficient expenditures amounting to 371.42bn/-.

The report also revealed that 37 local government authorities collected 3.45bn/- but failed to deposit the funds into designated government accounts, raising concerns about the mismanagement of public funds.

CAG Kichere stated that there were financial resources that were used on activities that did not add value to the respective public institutions totaling 378.17bn/-.

The CAG report also found out that there were projects implemented on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model that had stalled for between 11 and 27 years without implementation.

“I also realised that there was poor utilisation of the Cost Effectiveness of Internally Developed Government ICT Systems, therefore, I urge the government to address these inefficiencies,’’ Regarding the government’s debt status, CAG Kichere noted that as of June 30, 2024, the debt stood at 97.36tri/-, up from 82.25tril/- in the 2022/23 financial year, an increase of 15.10 tri/-, equivalent to 18 per cent.

This included domestic debt of 31.95tri/- and external debt of 65.41tri/- “As per the assessment of debt sustainability, the debt remains sustainable based on internationally accepted economic indicators,’’ he said.