Auditor general Junias Kandjeke has spanked the Kunene Regional Council with a disclaimer audit opinion, as the auditors were unable to obtain sufficient and appropriate audit evidence to judge the financial statements being audited.
This was in relation to the accounts of the Kunene Regional Council for the financial year ended March 2020.
“In my opinion, because of the significance of the matters described in the basis for the disclaimer of audit opinion paragraph, I have not been able to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to provide a basis for an audit opinion. Accordingly, I do not express an opinion on the financial statements,” he stressed.
A disclaimer audit opinion usually occurs when the auditor believes that the information available to them is insufficient, unclear or lacks credibility.
Kandjeke said the auditors observed a difference of N$6 million between cash and the cash equivalent at year-end, as per the statement of cash flow of N$26 million and re-computed cash flow at year-end of N$32 million.
“Furthermore, the auditors noted an unexplained difference of N$1.2 million between the additions recalculated amounting to N$11 million, and the cash flow statement of N$10 million.
I recommend that the council ensures that the statement of cash flow is prepared accurately,” he added.
Kandjeke stated that the auditors noted that the strategic plan for the year was provided, but no documents were provided to support the outputs achieved for the year under review.
In March this year, the regional council reportedly returned just over N$1.3 million to Treasury due mainly to lengthy procurement processes and late budget approvals, while the region as a whole was expected to return N$56 million to the fiscus.
Director for planning in the regional council Immanuel Nafele confirmed to New Era in March 2023 that the region was returning the much-needed funds, but noted that they were only returning
N$1.3 million out of the N$6.9 million they received during the 2022/2023 financial year.
He stated that the region was allocated a total of N$197 million across 16 sectors in the development budget towards the implementation of capital projects for 2022/2023. Out of the N$197 million received in the region, some N$56 million was expected to be returned from all sectors.
The 16 sectors include education, mines and
energy, health and social services, labour, industrial relations, justice, urban and rural development, environment, forestry and tourism, works and transport, the National Planning Commission, information and communication technology, agriculture and land reform, and water and home affairs. “A total amount of N$6.9 million was allocated to the Kunene Regional Council towards the implementation of primary projects during the financial year under review. [These include the] construction of services’ infrastructure in Sesfontein (N$709 000), the construction of the Okanguati settlement area office (N$3 million), services’ infrastructure in Okanguati (N$1.2 million), construction of services’ infrastructure in Fransfontein (N$709 000), and the implementation of rural sanitation (N$1.3 million), respectively,” said Nafele.
Out of the N$6.9 million received, a total amount of N$5.6 million was spent on the implementation of the projects during the year under review. This means N$1.3 million was not utilised, and has been returned to Treasury .– ljason@nepc.com.na