THE Ministry of Rural and Maritime Development and Disaster Management had outstanding arrears of revenue totalling $2,068,777 as of July 31, 2024, according to the 2024 Auditor-General’s Report tabled in Parliament last week.
The report on the general administration sector highlighted significant overdue revenue linked to business and liquor licences and warned that delays in recovery increased the risk of losses to Government.
Audit figures showed $165,518 or 8 per cent of arrears were between one and two years old, $811,776 or 39 per cent were between two and five years old and $1,091,483 or 53 per cent were more than five years overdue. The Auditor-General warned that prolonged delays in recovery heightened the likelihood of the debts becoming irrecoverable.
“Delays in recovery of arrears of revenue poses high risk of arrears of revenue becoming irrecoverable and being written off resulting in loss of Government revenue,” the report stated.
The Auditor-General recommended that the ministry seeks approval from the Ministry of Finance and Cabinet on the way forward regarding the recovery and recording of arrears of revenue.
In its management response, the ministry disputed the existence of arrears in the financial system.
The ministry stated that through its four divisions, it collected various forms of revenue including liquor and retail licences, permits, burial fees, birth, death and marriage fees, and arms licences for pigeon shooting.
According to management, these payments were receipted and posted into the financial management information system (FMIS) under Standard Revenue Group 23.
However, the ministry explained that the services were not administered through a billing system and customers were therefore not treated as debtors.
“In this regard, no debtors exist in the system resulting in no arrears of revenue,” the ministry stated in its response.
