Bring in the ACA

Malaysian Business, Sep 16, 2008 by Charles Raj

HOW EVER YOU LOOK AT IT, THE 2007 AUDITOR-General's Report documents incompetency, negligence and mismanagement in government departments.

And looking at the findings and recommendations of the A-G, one can't help but conclude that it could be more than just incompetency or negligence on the part of those involved. It could be outright fraud, cheating and dishonesty.

Unless, of course, we like to believe that those to be blamed are totally inept and useless. Well if they are, it also makes you wonder how they joined the civil service in the first place, doesn't it?

There is a growing chorus among taxpayers that something needs to be done once and for all to stem this wanton waste of millions of ringgit in public funds.

Given this, it would, therefore, be appropriate for the Anti- Corruption Agency (ACA) to step in and investigate some of the A- G's findings where it is obvious that fraud or corruption is prevalent. Currently, the A-G is not obliged to tip off the ACA on its findings, so the latter must take its own initiative in going after the perpetrators.

The ACA must be applauded for its sudden zest in recent months in taking to court director-generals of government departments, state ministers, politicians and other civil servants for corruption. With a new resolve running in its veins and the promise by the government to give it more teeth, let us hope the ACA also investigates the many discrepancies highlighted by the A-G.

Some of the A-G's findings have great public interest. For example, he made a startling revelation that many brands of the drinking and mineral water that we buy today may be unsafe for consumption!

Reason: The A-G detected several cases of unlicensed water distributors, or those with labelling and packaging which fall short of specifications. What is even more worrying about this whole fiasco is that no action has been taken against them, no thanks to the Health Ministry's poor monitoring and enforcement.

How it is that 20 licensed water-bottling companies have never submitted their water analysis to the ministry? Why are these illegal water distributors openly operating without fear of getting caught? Is it merely poor enforcement or is there more to this than meets the eye?

But it is not always that public funds are being squandered. Ironically, the A-G reveals that there are government departments that do not spend even a single sen despite huge allocations given to them. A total of 17 ministries did not spend a single sen although they applied for RM460 million for 40 projects.

On the other hand, 17 ministries exceeded their spending by a total of RM970 million despite regulations that this could only be done with the approval of the Treasury and Economic Planning Unit of the Prime Minister's Department. This blatant disregard raises the question of trust and accountability.

In some cases, the A-G even recommends that action be taken against those responsible. We do not know if this has been carried out but it does raise the question why such cases of mismanagement continue to recur year after year?

Not only do they take little or no action, many ministries do not even bother to respond to the A-G's queries. In his 2006 Report, 214 queries were raised, but sadly, he only received 134 responses, according to the 2007 report.

The good news is, the A-G will be recruiting another 500 staff so he can undertake a performance audit of all ministries in a given year as opposed to a selective basis now (a performance audit ascertains if projects are carried out efficiently, achieving the desired objectives).

But in all probability, the annual saga of the A-G's Report will go on. With the current lack of political will on the part of the government, little will be done to eradicate mismanagement and fraud.

Perhaps, things might be different if the ACA begins to step in.