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Ethiopia’s Auditor General told Members of Parliament (MP) that the trend of the National Planning Commission (NPC) to allocate budget for public development projects without proper monitoring and evaluation of the feasibility study has continued.
In a parliamentary session held on November 24, 2020, Federal Auditor General Gemechu Debiso noted that the nation is still losing billions of birr on public projects and urged that it be stopped and corrected.
However, the chief auditor refused to mention by name the projects that were launched without proper research and study.
In addition, Gemechu told the institutions to review their project management and control systems.
Although government institutions must purchase through bidding processes in accordance with procurement law, the auditor explained, procurement practices outside of government guidelines and directives have made it impossible for his team to audit the financial flow of such institutions.
The auditor, speaking about the quality of the data and the report of some government organizations, highlighted the need to have reporting verification systems to avoid false information.
In relation to bad practices and auditing problems in higher education institutions, Gemechu referred to universities that start profit-making companies with the support of the government budget. Furthermore, he claimed that they could not know how the profits of the companies were being spent.
Gemechu said that some universities are dedicated to public transportation, although there are no authority accounts that allow such practices.
“Some of them started working before they even had a legal permit or license to engage in a particular business,” Gemechu said.
Similarly, the Auditor General asked the Agency for Public Procurement and Asset Disposal to ensure that the various assets of government offices are properly registered.
He said that “there are many undisclosed and unregistered government assets in various government institutions,” adding that it has made it difficult for them to audit such properties.
