After presenting the 2005 audit report to the national assembly yesterday, the South Sudan Auditor General tackled the 2006 report, acknowledging improvements in areas of record keeping and denouncing continued monetary disorder.
Steven Wundu, chairperson of the Audit Chamber, said 12 million US dollars allocated for the construction of the Aweil-Maryem road went unaccounted for in 2006.He added that 15 government institutions never submitted their payrolls, a move that made it difficult to prove if the salaries were paid in accordance with the law.
Like in 2005, there was still no record of taxes collected from customs in 2006.
The report reveals that a company was paid 2 million dollars to transport 25 thousand bags of sorghum to the hungry population in Warrap, Unity, Western Bah-el-Ghazal and western Bahr-el-Ghazal states.
However, Mr. Wundu said there was no signed contract between the government and the company for the delivery of the goods and there is no evidence that the goods were indeed delivered.
Mr. Wundu said the year of 2006 saw a growth of foreign accounts with millions of dollars belonging to South Sudan government officials.
He said 7 million dollars disappeared in a transition of GoSS money between a Swiss bank and the Bank of Sudan and the account was private. The deposit in Geneva amounted to 165 million US dollars while only 157 million were transferred to Khartoum.
He said he was not able to establish who owned the Swiss account.
The report also reveals a retained balance of 19 million dollars in a Nairobi bank and petty cash advances amounted to 1.27 million dollars in the year of 2006.
The audit indicates that a number of government units exceeded their budget without legal authorisation: finance ministry 106 million dollars, environment 26 million, labour 17 million, telecommunication five million, Local Government Board seven million, Relief Commission 25 million and Human Rights Commission 707 thousand.
Mr. Wundu admitted that there were technical and system constraints in government capacities together with lack of will on the part of managers of institutions to safeguard public property.
He said budgets did not reflect rational prioritisation for a society certified as the least developed adding that vast amounts of money benefited foreign producers of cars, food and furniture.
The little allocated for development was affected by procurement mal-practices.
Scopas Taban Lokabang, who represents the war disabled, widows, widowers and orphans in the parliament, said it was absurd that the misappropriated money was more than enough to cater for the war victims’ welfare.
He labelled the ruling party as dishonest, because the great majority of government officials belonged to the SPLM.
The Auditor General said South Sudan is at the crossroads and should adjust its priorities in favour of human development and poverty alleviation or risk the loss of peace and prosperity the nation sacrificed so much to earn.
Mr. Wundu advised the national assembly to invest the bulk of oil revenue in education, food, roads, energy and health.