STATE FAILS TO RECOVER K43M YOUTH FUNDS – AG

Tue, 28 Nov 2017 14:56:54 +0000

GOVERNMENT has failed to recover over K43 million paid out to about 1, 450 youth groups under the Youth Development Fund Loans, the 2016 Auditor General report has revealed.
And the report reveals that there was poor management of the youth fund as the loans were not being recovered, therefore disadvantaging other would-be beneficiaries.
The AG report indicates that the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Child Development had no capacity to monitor the programme and that there was no binding agreement in place elaborating how the loans were to be recovered in the event of default by the beneficiaries.
There was also an observation in the report that the beneficiaries did not seem to understand what was expected of them once they accessed the loans.
The report states that during the period under review, K7, 721, 053 had been paid to 265 youth groups bringing the total cumulative payment to K45, 118, 101 paid to 1, 450 youth groups during the period 2012 to 2016. However, as of March 2017 only K2, 064, 356 had been recovered leaving a balance of K43, 053, 745.
“It was not possible to ascertain how much each group had repaid as the Ministry did not maintain individual debtor’s ledgers for the youth groups.
“The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) observed that there was poor management of the Youth Development Fund. It further observed that the objectives of the Fund were not being achieved as the loans were not being recovered, therefore disadvantaging the other would be beneficiaries,” the report reads in part. Meanwhile, the AG report also states that the PAC recommended that the controlling officer ensures that the whole programme be reviewed and its management