By Christopher Ambe
Any public accountant worth the
salt must be in the forefront of the fight against corruption, Mr. Ayuk Peter,
Southwest Treasurer/Paymaster-General (TPG) has told public accountants of the
Southwest region.
Mr. Ayuk was speaking recently at
the first coordination meeting of treasury accountants of the Southwest
financial jurisdiction in Menji-Lebialem, while informing them of the
elaboration of the National Anti-corruption Strategy.
“We shall not alleviate poverty
effectively if we do not help create incentives for those deserving them and
sanction those who want the easy way to riches”, remarked the TPG, who is said
to be a vocal anti-corruption crusader and stringent financial expert.
The stock-taking meeting was
intended, among other things, to examine the innovations of the 2012 finance
law, innovations on the 2012 accounting nomenclature, the national strategy on
the fight against corruption, reports of activities of chiefs of service and
heads of treasury stations, and the importance of opening bank accounts for
both service providers and civil servants
The TPG revealed that four
Municipal Treasuries of the Southwest region had not produced management accounts
for over seven years now, even though it is one of their obligations.
“As concerns the production of management
accounts, from all indications, the municipal treasurers of Wabane, Kombo
Ikindi, Idabato and Akwaya still seem to be finding it impossible to produce
any management account since 2004,” the Treasurer/Paymaster-general said at the
meeting, strongly requesting them to submit to him ASAP a written report of
their difficulties
He regretted that of a total of over
10.3 billion FCFA received as credits for the Southwest region for this year as
at march 31st the Treasury department in the Southwest had effectively
paid only 494,295,864 FCFA as expenditure relating to the budget of 2012,
representing a percentage of execution of 4.77%.
“In fact, this gives us a percentage execution
of the running budget of 13.11% and of 0.42% for the investment budget of 2012
which is 7.049,596,000 FCFA,” he said.
Mr. Ayuk said an execution rate
of 4.77% when the year was one-quarter gone was not a good percentage, noting
that as at last March, 25 % of the year had already gone.
“We cannot afford to have a general
consumption of 4.77%; it means we are lagging behind. In two months time we are
going to receive the credit of the second semester in addition to the punctual
credits to be given to the region especially as the head of state will be
visiting the Southwest region.”
The Treasurer-General warned the
accountants: “The late production or non-production of periodic situations, the
sluggish treatment of regular bills, the unjustified delays in the payment of
expenses that have already been controlled and found, the lack of cash flow
management which makes some of you to publish the list of people to be paid
only for such beneficiaries to be told to come later when they present themselves
at your stations, will be promptly and severely punished”
He told colleagues to anticipate the
expenditure plans of authorizing officials, inform him on time so he could tell
hierarchy- for a proactive management of cash flow.
“In fact, cash flow management is done at the
level of Yaoundé on a daily basis and that is what we shall eventually apply at
all levels of the economy to avoid frustrating service providers who have
earnestly earned their dues,” the TPG said.
He said in the first quarter
(January 1 to March 31), his jurisdiction effectively recovered a total of
about 2.8 billion. Mr.Ayuk pointed out that, the recovery witnessed a “very
significant increase in service revenue”, which rise he attributed to on-going
recoveries mission that is now in Meme Division.
“In fact, within this same period
last year, service revenue was only FCFA 148,224,656;for this year we have FCFA
202.780,106,a rise of 37% thanks to the ongoing inventory of income generating
sources”, he revealed. “Meanwhile 42 new revenue collection services were
identified in Meme Division bringing the total number of income generating
services to 72 from the former 34 services identified in 2011.We expect this
number to increase when the team finishes with Konye subdivision which has not
yet been completely visited”
The TPG disclosed that the
Southwest Region as at last March 31 had 225 revenue collectors, up from 164 in
March 2011.
However, he regretted that out of
the 225 revenue collectors, only 23 had deposited monthly returns with
regularity since January 2012.
TheTPG said as concerning the
state budget the level of execution for running credits as at March was at
13.11%. “As concerns the investment credit we are very low, it is at the level
of 0.42%.For the councils, it is even worse for the running budget placed at
their level…they are at the level of 0.1%. As concerns their investment credit,
nothing has been paid yet. I think this is because most of the investment
credits have to the procedure of tendering”
He called for a speedy procedure,
noting that “more often than not the treasury does not pay if the authorizing
officers do not take initiative.
For his part, Mr.Magloire
Mendouga, who sat in for the Director-General of Treasury, Financial and
Monetary Cooperation reminded the accountants of the existence of a commission
on the Fight against Corruption in the Ministry and requested the
Treasury/Paymaster-General to proceed with the creation of sub-commissions of
anti-corruption body in his financial jurisdiction. He announced that to
encourage total efficiency and total duty-consciousness, the Director-General
of Treasury, Financial and Monetary Cooperation has launched an Excellence
Award for best treasury accountants.Mr.Mendouga said
treasurers/paymasters-general ,for the competition, would be judged based,
among other criteria, on the quality of their accounts rendered.
He stressed the need for the
respect of the time limit of sixty (60) days for all payments.
The coordination meeting was
declared open by the by the Governor of the Southwest region through his
representative, Fofie Mboueda Chrsitopher, who is also First Assistant SDO for
Lebialem.Mr.Fofie implored the accountants to ensure the proper execution of
the State budget.
Earlier in his welcome speech,
the mayor of Menji, Chief Fobellah Nyockembeng II, appealed to the participants
to serve also as ambassadors of Lebialem by lobbying for development projects
for the Division, which he likened to the Switzerland of Cameroon due to its
topography.
First
Published in The Recorder Newspaper, Cameroon, of May 2, 2012
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