By Ramatoulie Jawo
The Accountant General of the Gambia Agnes Macaulay said his office retired D1.8 million imprest out of D8.5 million unretired.
The Accountant General disclosed this on Monday while appearing before the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Public Account Committee to update them on the Unretired Imprests.
“Five million nine hundred and forty-one thousand seven hundred and sixty-two dalasis and twenty-two bututs (D5, 941, 762.20) is available for retirement. While one million eight hundred and fifty-two thousand and forty-eight dalasis (D1, 852, 48.00) still remained outstanding. Which means they are not submitted for retirement. One Imprest holder with an amount of fifty thousand is deceased and one hundred thousand (D100,000.00 is currently being recovered from payroll,” She disclosed.
The Accountant General said an amount of Six hundred and seventy-two thousand one hundred dalasis (D672,100) related to Imprest holders who are not in active service thereby, they cannot be traced back.
Ms. Macaulay told the Committee her office wrote to the imprest holders through the institutions where the imprests were issued and did not receive any positive responses from those institutions, with the Institutions claiming that they do not know these people with unretired imprest and some are silent.
“Because we know we can’t reach out to these people in their individual addresses. So, we decided to write to the institutions where these Imprests were issued. That was the first thing we did before, but now use personal contacts, which is the individuals to know who to reach out to,” she said.
Hon. Kebba Lang Fofana, ask the accountant General whether they have the payment vouchers. The Accountant General responded in the affirmative.
“What is the purpose of the payment vouchers if you still have the payment vouchers, and we can’t get a clear narrative to trace the recipient of those payments,” The NAM asked.
The Accountant General said the payment vouchers have limited information depending on what they were looking for.
“On the payment vouchers, you will have the person the payment was made to. You will have the amount they are paid; you will also have the purpose. That is where the links and notes come in, and the Ministry gives you the information,” she stated.
Hon. Fofana said if the information on the vouchers is enough to trace the imprest holders, then someone is hiding them from the system. He then proceeded to ask the Accountant General to provide them with the names of the individuals they cannot trace.
“Don’t give us only their names but with all their information to FPAC. Then we will take it from there,” Hon. Fofana told the Accountant General.
The Chairperson of the FPAC Committee Alhagie S. Darboe told the Accountant General that those Imprest holders have up to the 28th of February to respond and if they failed to respond, FPAC will do the publication of their names.
The Committee then agreed to give the Imprest holders 90 days (3 months) starting from the 1st of March 2023 for them to pay all their outstanding Imprest.
The Accountant General’s Office is expected to return before FPAC tomorrow for continuation.
Article by: kerrfatou.com
February 14, 2023 - BY Admin