SODELPA Leader Sitiveni Rabuka says the blurring line between the government and the watchdog institution of the Auditor General, is regrettable.
Rabuka made these comments after the Auditor General disclaimed part of the 2016 Auditor General’s Report.
He says a SODELPA government would ensure the independence of the Office of the Auditor General, a key pillar for good governance and governmental accountability in Fiji.
Rabuka says this admission of error by the Auditor General was unprecedented, disastrous and cause for dismay for the people of Fiji who looked to the Auditor General to keep the government honest and accountable.
Rabuka says rightfully, it is the Public Accounts Committee that Government Ministries give their clarification to and the process is that Ministries have the opportunity to respond to the Auditor General before the publication of his report.
He says if the Ministry clarification is unsatisfactory to the Office of the Auditor General, the report is published and the Ministries then have a second opportunity to clarify with the Public Accounts Committee.
Meanwhile, the Auditor General has apologized to the people of Fiji for mistakes in the 2016 Auditor General's reports tabled in Parliament in July this year.
Ajay Nand has also assured people that this will not happen again under his watch and explained that the errors occurred because of the archaic audit practices within the Office of the Auditor General.
Nand confirmed that he intends to review the capability of the staff at the Auditor General's Office after a number of glaring errors that need to be corrected.
He says one of the key errors in the 2016 Auditor General's reports was the statement in the report that the purchases worth $2.59 million of family packs for Cyclone Winston victims were not properly procured although it was done under the Procurement Regulations which allows the Ministry to make such purchases during times of emergencies.
Nand also highlighted that the reports also said that there was non‑submission of audited accounts for some entities which amounted to a total value of $245.07 million.
However, he clarified that a number of draft accounts were already submitted to the Auditor General's Office and a number of reports have already been audited.
Nand says he will provide a list of these reports to the media.
There was also misleading information about the Ministry of Women not getting proper approvals from the Ministry of Economy in relation to budgeted purposes however Nand has clarified that the approval is not needed from the Ministry of Economy as these approvals come from the Permanent Secretaries of the ministries.
Nand confirms that he will submit a supplementary report with the corrected information regarding the 2016 reports.
