The Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) fails to account for the sum of Le1,694,030,170 which was withdrawn by the Ministry for the supply of diet for the 2019/2020 academic year to boarding schools.

This irregularity by the Ministry in terms of the management of resources meant for the supply of diet to government schools was revealed by the recent Audit Report.

That bank withdrawals were made by the Ministry without supporting or adequate supporting documents to ascertain the withdrawals in question.

That contrary to Section 100 (1bi) Public Financial Management Regulations of 2018, bank withdrawals which amounted to Le1,083,919,089 were without payment vouchers and the relevant supporting documents.

The report further maintained that total bank withdrawals of Le3,730,223,260 were without adequate supporting documents such as: receipts, invoices, delivery notes, signed list of beneficiaries, payroll vouchers, minutes, attendance, attendance list, back-to-office report etc.

In his response, the Senior Permanent Secretary, David W.S Banya stated that documents are available for inspection and that they will comply with the other audit recommendations.

“From a total of Le1,083,119,099, payment vouchers and the relevant supporting documents were submitted for total payments of Le856,119,099, leaving a balance of Le227,800,000 without supporting documents and from the total of Le3,730,223,260, adequate supporting documents were submitted for total payments of Le263,993,090.00, leaving a balance of Le1,466,230,170, without adequate documents,” the Auditor affirmed.

New Age Newspaper reports that, the audit maintained that the issue is partially resolved as a result of discrepancies which revealed that the total of over Le1.6 billion unaccounted.