“During the audit, we observed that Management under disbursed the approved appropriation of one hundred six (106) ministries and agencies of Government amounting to US$ 78, 289, 600,” stated the General Audit Commission (GAC) in its August 2025 Consolidated Account report.
The audit revealed that despite budget approvals, the government failed to fully disburse allocated funds across over a hundred ministries and agencies.
The report further notes the absence of any formal warning or notice from sector ministers or the Minister of Finance regarding significant budget variations, a requirement under financial oversight regulations.
In addition, a sample review of payment vouchers uncovered payments totaling approximately US$2.85 million made without sufficient supporting documentation.
These missing documents include essential records such as payment receipts, quotations, contracts, expenditure reports, and delivery notes, which validate the legitimacy of government expenditures.
Management responded by acknowledging the under-disbursement and attributed it mainly to delays in the approval of the national budget.
According to their statement, the budget approval process is sometimes prolonged, with repeated recalls of the budget proposal, reducing the timeframe available for executing the approved appropriations.
This delay also affected the approval of procurement plans for line ministries, agencies, and commissions, plans that must be in place before budgets can be executed.
Furthermore, the delays impacted early revenue collection, which in turn slowed the overall rate of budget execution during the first quarters of the fiscal year.
Regarding the observation on missing documentation, management clarified that many of the payments are supported by extensive paperwork, including bid documents, evaluation reports, and quarterly expenditure reports.
These supporting documents are required during voucher processing but are sometimes separated from the payment records after processing due to limited storage space.
Additionally, some institutions report through sector ministries, such as Health and Internal Affairs, where original copies of supporting documents are kept at the sector level for audit purposes while only copies are submitted with payment vouchers.
The audit findings highlight ongoing challenges in budget execution and financial controls within government institutions.
Addressing these issues is essential for improving transparency and accountability in public financial management.
