Greater accountability needed over issues unearthed by AG

PETALING JAYA: There should be key performance indicators (KPIs) to help resolve the issues raised by the findings of the Auditor-General’s (AG) Report, says an economics expert.

These KPIs should be the responsibility of the ministers, said Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) research manager Alissa Rode.

She pointed out that for the 2021 AG report, the Auditor-General’s Dashboard showed that only 45.9% of issues have been resolved.

She said it should be made mandatory for ministers to respond on how they would deal with the issues affecting their ministries.

“This way, there will be accountability from the political leadership and not just at the operational level.

“We expect the top leadership to actively put pressure on speeding up these actions and reporting it publicly in a timely manner.

“Parliament also needs to play an active role in oversight by demanding more action on the AG’s Report,” she said in an interview yesterday.

Rode said MPs should be more active in “mining” the report for information and submitting questions to get updates on the issues, while the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) should play a more active role in following up on the report.

She urged the government to look seriously into the Procurement Act, a much-needed law to strengthen control around procurements and enforce penalties for non-compliance.

However, she said not all the issues were caused by corrupt actions. Gross mismanagement must also be addressed.

Stronger training programmes on procurement, due diligence and project management for civil servants should be carried out to address the issue of wastage through the poor selection of project vendors and project control, added Rode.

The Centre to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4) said the Procurement Act needs to be enacted to limit circumstances for direct negotiations with specific provisions and to cut down the powers granted to the government to carry out “emergency procurement”.

It was commenting on the RM13.07mil losses incurred over the procurement of 93 defective ventilators for Health Ministry facilities in 2021 as revealed in Series 2 of the AG’s Report.

Only 28 of the 136 ventilators obtained through the emergency procurement procedure could be used while the remaining 108 units were unsuitable and unsafe.

As a result of poor governance, the damage sustained can no longer be completely remedied since the findings of the 2021 Report were only revealed this year.

The G25 group that comprises senior and eminent former civil servants said civil servants themselves play a significant role by not abetting their political masters in undermining rules and regulations.

The group said civil servants must also call out those who do so to restore the integrity of the service.

“Corruption cases continue to flood the media, a sign of a lack of good governance.

“To counter this, the government must work harder to inculcate integrity at all levels of administration and come down hard when it comes to enforcing anti-corruption laws,” the group said in a statement.

The findings of Series 2 of the 2021 Auditor-General’s Report showed that non-compliance in financial management resulted in losses in public funds totalling RM158.08mil.

Of the amount, losses of public funds came to RM116.95mil, irregular payments (RM26.03mil) and wastage (RM15.10mil).

As of now, there is no specific legislation in Malaysia that governs the government procurement process, which is largely governed by Treasury instructions and circulars (Treasury Instruments) issued by the Finance Ministry.