The Ministry of Sugar was not given budget allocations to recruit additional staff members despite making requests since 2017 and this resulted in ineffective monitoring of grants totalling $58 million towards the sugar industry.
This, according to the Auditor-General’s 2019 Audit Report on Economic Services Sector tabled in Parliament recently.
The Office of the Auditor-General (OAG) stated the Ministry of Sugar paid $500,000 for harvesters, $5.6 million for cane cartage from Penang to Rarawai, $15 million for fertiliser subsidy, $18.5 million for sugarcane development and farmers assistance, $9.1 million for cane access roads, $6.3 million for weedicide subsidy, $1.2 million for sugarcane farm mechanisation and $999,999 in small grants.
“The ministry should ensure that resourcing for monitoring of grants are enhanced and provide added assurance to Government that funds have been effectively utilised,” the OAG stated.
The Ministry of Sugar stated it had requested the Ministry of Economy in the budget proposal for 2019-2020 for funds to recruit project officers who would assist in the monitoring of capital grants.
“The ministry has been requesting for additional budget to recruit staff to undertake monitoring of grants in 2017-2018, 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 budget.
“However, funds were not provided for recruitment of monitoring officers.”
