EDITORIAL: Tackle issues raised by the cag in his report
While Tanzanians anxiously await an end to the altercation between Parliament and Prof Mussa Assad involving audit matters, we are nonetheless given cause to appreciate the positives. For one: the audit report for the 2017/18 financial year by the Controller and Auditor General, Prof Assad, shows that 97 per cent of the audited government ministries, departments and agencies were awarded an ‘unqualified opinion’ status.
In auditing, an ‘unqualified opinion’ is an independent auditor’s judgment that the financial statements of an audited institution are fairly and appropriately presented, without any material errors or omissions – and comply with set accounting standards.
It is a ‘clean’ report in which the auditor concludes that the financial statements fairly present the results of the audited institution’s operations and its financial position according to generally-accepted accounting principles.
Tabled in Parliament in Dodoma on Wednesday, the CAG Report shows that performance of government institutions in FY-2017/18 had improved by 15 per cent over their FY-2016/17 performance.
This is a good sign. But, much more still needs to be done to address the issues raised in the report. Apparently, there is still a lot of rot in the use of public funds. Questionable transactions revealed in the CAG report run into billions of shillings of tax payers money.
It is also sad that despite the spirited effort by President John Magufuli to end the embezzlement of public funds through ghost workers and through the allowances gravy train, the rot persists, especially in local government authorities and other executive agencies, one of which spent over Sh1 billion in board meetings and seminers alone. This cannot be tolerated any longer.
And, this is why we also urge Parliament to work on the CAG’s recommendations to address these concerns. It is unacceptable that MPs are busy pointing fingers at the CAG when, for instance, they have worked on only 22.9 per cent of his recommendations from the past reports. Surely, where is their moral ground to do that?
In a nutshell, the Legislature, the Judiciary and the Executive are interdependent, and must always work together in the nation’s best interests. The office of the Speaker and that of the CAG must resolve to work together for they have no choice.
