…..minister says AG’s report was based on procurement irregularities
…..PM says NDMA was audited 8 times, results were all unqualified
BY MBONGENI NDLELA
MBABANE – The unaccounted-for E210 million for COVID-19 has since been explained.
Minister of Finance Neal Rijkernberg has since cleared the air about reports suggesting that an amount of E180 million was allegedly ‘stolen’ by Prime Minister Russell Dlamini when he was still the CEO of the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA).
The disingenuous reports have been a thorny issue to many Emaswati ever since the Auditor General (AG), revealed in a 2022 report that a sum of E180 million in the COVID-19 fund had been uncounted for.
What recently added salt to the wound was that another amount of E30 million has also been flagged by the AG, causing many people to finger the PM as having allegedly benefited E210 million illegally while he was still at NDMA.
Today, Minister Neal addressed a full house of local journalists that the AG’s report does not in any way say the monies were stolen. However, they were unaccounted for, stated the minister.
Neal cleared the PM of any wrongdoing after the latter had fired a broadside salvo at the AG’s office that it was, “using incorrect information and spreading it to the media.”
The PM was responding to a question posed by Editors who wanted him to give his side of the story regarding the AG’s findings.
At first, the PM stated that he had been avoiding addressing the AG’s report on NDMA but the time has come for him to speak. He disclosed that NDMA has been audited eight times by professional auditors over COVID-19 spending.
“Out of all these auditors, they gave unqualified audit results, meaning clean audit. Only management issues were found and corrected,” he said.
The premier further assured the nation that reports that E180 million went missing at NDMA were incorrect and misleading.
“It is so sad that many people now believe these misleading figures,” he said.
To support the PM, Minister Neal explained that the AG’s report was compiled based on findings that procurement procedures were not adhered to during the procurement of material and services to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
The minister stated that the issue regarding unaccounted E180 million was dealt with by the previous parliament.
Neal quashed reports that money amounting to E180 million got stolen at NDMA but instead, the COVID-19 crisis forced the Agency to bypass the procurement exercise to save lives.
The minister explained that during the COVID-19 era, he worked hand in hand with PM Russell as he was still in charge of NDMA.
“Emaswati should take note that no one is saying in the report money was stolen. All that is being said was because there were some issues around procurement,” he said.
He continued: “We have an entity called NDMA which is there for emergencies. Government procurement systems take months to buy something with government resources. If we are expecting NDMA to quickly respond to a crisis yet we expect the Agency to go through the lengthy government procurement system, then we would fight a losing battle. In fact, there would be no use of the agency. NDMA, by its nature, is designed to react to urgent crises. For example, if there is a storm tonight, NDMA is supposed to react as soon as the storm has died,”
“During COVID-19, the country encountered an unprecedented crisis that needed urgency. So the PAC report required that the NDMA CEO should be suspended for these procurement irregularities yet if NDMA had not swiftly responded to the COVID-19 crisis, we would have not been able to win the battle against COVID if the procurement processes were followed,” the minister said.
