Honorable Lamin J Sanneh The Chairperson Of The Public Enterprise Committee
By Ramatoulie Jawo
The National Assembly’s Public Enterprise Committee (PEC) issued a directive on March 6, 2024, for the National Water and Electricity Company to settle an imprest of $1.5 million by March’s end.
In a session before the full assembly, the committee laid out their suggestions following a review of the National Water and Electricity Corporation’s operations and audited financials for 2019-2020.
The auditors’ findings highlighted payments made as imprest without adequate documentation to confirm their settlement, leaving an unresolved sum of D1.5 million.
The committee recommends that the board ensure that NAWEC’s Management clears the imprest by March 2024. Should this not occur, the individuals who sanctioned the payments must return the funds forthwith. Non-compliance will lead to the involvement of the Inspector General of Police for inquiry and restitution.
The report also disclosed a puzzling variance of D34.7 million between the trade payable ledger and the General Ledger, a discrepancy management failed to elucidate.
“In reconciling the trade payable account by Management, the Auditors noted manual journal postings made into the account totaling D569,895,320 net Supporting evidence for samples of these postings were not provided to the Auditors for review,” the report added.
The committee additionally suggested that the Board and Management undertake an investigation to reconcile the variances identified between the listing and the general ledger.
“The net variances of D34.7 million are investigated and adjustments to the books are made accordingly if necessary, the Board should investigate the manual journal postings made into the account totaling D569,895,320 net and provide supporting documents to those adjustments for verification,” the committee recommended.
The report indicates that during the Auditor’s test on revenue from Electricity sales, they established an expectation. This was done by obtaining the monthly sales data from the billing system Galatee, multiplying it by the approved tariff, adding sales from cash power Suprema, and then subtracting NAWEC’s consumption. This process revealed a variance of D199 million between their expectation and the amount recorded in the general ledger.
“Additionally, they encountered limitations in testing the completeness and accuracy of revenue as the meter logbook was not provided and supporting evidence for revenue recorded for the agile NAWEC service connection amounting to D10,651,986 was not provided for their review,” the report revealed.
The Committee advises the Board to ensure that the variance between the anticipated revenue and the General Ledger figures is thoroughly investigated, reconciled, and adjusted as necessary.
Furthermore, the Committee suggests conducting a comprehensive investigation into the underlying reasons for the understatement of revenue.