Spending blindly

PUBLIC finance accounting in the Solomon Islands started to break down in the 1979 financial year and by 1985 all semblance of control had been lost, said a report from the coun try’s Public Accounts Committee which has revealed millions of dollars worth of

illegal spending. The inquiry, chaired by

Joses Tuhanuka, reported that between 1985 and 1987 illegal spending totalled 51581.2 million (U 5532.5 million).

The committee found that accounting officers had failed to co-operate with the Auditor-General and failed to give writ ten explanations for excess spending; there were serious errors in accounting and staff had been poorly trained; limits authorised by Parliament had been ex ceeded; the budgetry process was in effective and deteriorating and succes sive governments had been unwilling to control spending. Many public servants were found to be operating private businesses during official working hours and using government transport, tele phones, stationery and other facilities for their own enterprises.

The Public Accounts Committee had its work delayed by the refusal of accounting officers to provide written explanations and the committee was critical of the fact that no disciplinary action had been taken by the Public Ser vice Commission.

In the 1985-87 period, the Govern ment’s net domestic borrowing rose from 51520.2 million to 51562.9 million, and the total reached 51588.4 million by the end of 1989. Almost all of this deficit was raised to meet revenue shoitfalls, and the committee’s report warned that this level of deficit could not be sus tained. It said part of the problem had been budgets drawn up without con sultation with ministers responsible for

spending portfolios. Without central

policy directives, the departmental

accounting officers had ignored financial allocations when setting manpower levels; this had caused budgets to be ex ceeded and no governments had been willing to rectify these breaches.

The committee has recommended that, in the future, action be taken

against accounting officers who over spend.

But there were also unauthorised ac tions at the political level, with borrow ing limits set by Parliament having been disregarded. Nor has the Solomon Is lands Parliament been kept informed of the true budget deficit or the extent of Government borrowing. In fact, the committee reports the Auditor-General’s view that proper government accounts have not been kept since 1979.

But even when accounts have been maintained, some are wildly inaccurate; for example, the Treasury’s cash in tran sit account showed a balance of more than Sls27 million at the end of 1987 when there was actually less than Sls 10,000. It was found that adjustments of 515315 million had to be made before the committee could publish the govern ment’s accounts, and expressed some concern that plans to set up a General Accounting Service had not been im plemented. There is also to be a stand ing committee which will examine gov ernment accounts, investigate excess spending, examine other accounts sent to Parliament and have the power to summon officials to answer questions. □