Parliament puts to rest Tsh1.5tri/- debate
The Parliament yesterday concluded a raging debate on Tsh 1.5tri/- alleged to be missing from the office of the Treasury, insisting—no money was chopped off from the state coffers.
Presenting the 2018 working report for the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the committee chairperson Naghenjwa Kaboyoka (Chadema) told the National Assembly here that the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) had accomplished his verification audit report of the Treasury for the year ending June 30, 2017 and submitted his report to the Parliament.
“The verification audit report has confirmed beyond reasonable doubt that there is no financial gap of 1.5tri/- on the revenue collected in the 2016/17 financial year,’’ she said.
According to the PAC chairperson, after queries were raised by some people, including ACT-Wazalendo party leader and Kigoma Urban MP Zitto Kabwe, the CAG embarked on a verification exercise to identify the reason behind the deficit of 1.5tri/- out of the collected 25.3tri/-.
In the CAG report ending June 2017, the CAG indicated that 25.3tri/- was collected, but the money disbursed by the Treasury to various public institutions was 23.8tri/, a move that elicited debate that 1.5tri/- was squandered as it could not be accounted for.
Because of that, the Treasury submitted to CAG accounting adjustments, which later prompted full reconciliation that indicated there was no deficit of 1.5tri/- as was earlier claimed by a section of people.
“On page 41 of his verification audit report the CAG explains the reasons that brought the difference of 1.5tri/-,” said Ms Kaboyoka.
The CAG wrote on his report: “The difference of 1.5tri/- resulted from factors such as differences in information reviewed and adjustments passed by management.”
To avoid such confusion in the future, according to the PAC chairperson, the paymaster general appeared before her committee and admitted that to address the anomalies, the government had embarked on strengthening financial systems, including the Treasury Single Account, the Centralised Budget Management System, the Government Electronic Fund Transfers, the Government Salaries Payment System, the Government Payment Gateway and the Government Audit Recommendations Implementation Tracking System.
The debate on 1.5tri/- had taken a centre stage in social media, a move that made President John Magufuli demand answers on the matter from the CAG and the Treasury.
On April 20, last year, when he was swearing in judges at the State House, President Magufuli asked the CAG on the 1.5tri/- allegations and the CAG assured there was no loss.