The Auditor General’s Report has revealed that the Ministry of Lands misapplied funds amounting to K6.7 million which were meant for land development to hire an aircraft and for organizing trade fairs, among other things.

In the latest Report of the Auditor General on the Accounts of the Republic for the financial year ended December 31, 2018, the Ministry of Lands misapplied funds meant for land development despite receiving requests.

“The total funds available for land development in 2018 amounted to K25,979,654 comprising a brought forward balance from 2017 of K2,229,654 and an amount of K23,750,000, which was transferred to the account for the Fund by the Ministry during the year under review. Out of the available amount of K25,979,654, only K16,378,349 was utilized leaving a balance of K9,601,305. As at December 31, 2018, the Land Development Fund account had a balance of K2,862,471, while the amount of K6,738,834 was applied on unrelated activities, such as hire of aircraft, Trade Fair and rehabilitation works,” the Report revealed.

“However, it was not clear why the Ministry did not utilize all the funds on land development, considering that it had received funding applications from 22 local authorities in amounts totalling K95,581,405 out of which applications from only 12 local authorities in amounts totalling K16,378,349 were funded, while the applications for the remaining local authorities were rejected on grounds that there were insufficient funds.”

And the Audit Report further revealed that six vehicles whose registration numbers were not on the Ministry fleet drew fuel worth K17,705.

“During the period under review, fuel costing K17,705 was drawn from the fuel pool account at Imran Service Station by six motor vehicles whose registration numbers were not appearing on the fleet of motor vehicles availed for audit. Further, no authority to draw fuel by the same vehicles was availed for audit as at 31st August, 2019. As a result, it was not possible to ascertain whether the drawn fuel was used on government activities and for the intended purpose,” revealed the Report.