Violations in government entities need to stop : Bahrain MPs

Manama : Financial and administrational violations in government entities must be stopped immediately, MPs demanded in their final meet in the second session of the fourth legislative term at Gudaibiya yesterday.

During the meeting, the MPs discussed the Council’s Economic and Financial Committee’s report on the violations detected by the National Audit Office (NAO) in government authorities in the fiscal year 2014-15.

The discussion took place in the presence of NAO President Hassan Al Jalahma and the representative of the government Parliament and Shura Affairs Minister Ghanim Al Buainain.

The MPs voiced out their opinions about many violations detected by NAO in government establishment and called for immediate action to eliminate corruption in them. 

By the end of the discussion, they voted for referring the committee’s report to the government so it would be looked into.

Committee Head Abdulrahman Buali said, “This report is more comprehensive than the previously issued ones. We have conducted 10 meetings and got in touch with the concerned authorities.”

“While studying NAO report, our main concerns were over the public debt and the budgets of projects. In 2003, public borrowing was calculated to be around BD900 million. It rose to BD10 billion in 2015, with an 180pc hike. Public debt is expected to reach 100pc of local revenues, which is a dangerous indicator. We repeatedly requested the authorities to discuss the matter with the legislative authority. But the authorities chose to increase some of the fees on citizens instead of creating solutions,” Buali said.

“We shouldn’t approve the government’s request to raise the public debt ceiling. This request is scheduled to be presented to the Council in the next session of the legislative term. It could not be passed because borrowing more funds in the existing situations is a disaster. We understand that raising the public debt ceiling is because of the projects’ budget, which include numerous violations and public money waste that was mentioned in NAO report,” he added.

Sharing a similar opinion and rejecting the public debt ceiling raise, MP Ali Bufarsen commented, “More than BD3bn was borrowed to cover the deficit recently and the country can’t endure more of these debts.”

MP Nabeel Al Balooshi said, “The public debt is like a snowball rolling down a cliff. It has increased to unrecorded rates. There’s overspending in public event, official trips and others sides that we could do without. Austerity measures are mainly being burdened by citizens. All sides should bear these measures. These violations in the report are proven by an independent party, which is NAO. We should take steps against violators and take more deterrent actions.”

Situation at Bahrain Embassy in US

On his part, Dr. Majeed Al Asfoor pointed out the violations mentioned in NAO report in regards to Foreign Affairs Ministry.

“Bahrain’s Embassy in Washington DC can’t take a decision when it comes to its own projects and spending. The embassy can’t implement maintenance works on its own. They don’t even have a proper heating system when I visited them recently in winter. The staff there informed me that the Ministry has assigned a non-Bahraini expert to evaluate these expenditures. If the Ministry saves the expenses of his (the expert) trips back and forth from the US, it would be more useful,” he said.

Health Ministry, a nest of violations

MP Abulhameed Al Najjar said in his speech that the Health Ministry is “full of violations that should be immediately addressed.”

“Close to BD4m is the total cost of expired medicines that are stored in Health Ministry’s warehouses. Some narcotics are missing from the Ministry’s pharmacies and no actions were taken,” the lawmaker stated.

He criticised how it was detected that “there are 809 bills missing from the Ministry’s accounts departments.”

Al Najjar also commented on how 83,000 amendments have been done to 10,000 receipts, a matter which he considered as “a clear indication of corruption in the Ministry.”

Revealing more violations that were mentioned in NAO annual report, Al Najjar asked how “some medical staff, with the rank of consultants, have signed and were paid for working over 150 hours of overtime, while they actually worked for less than 30 minutes.”

“There are around 125 coffee shops that serve tobacco products, consist of violations and are operating without renewing their permits. 47 others operate without permits. It’s like we’re allowing these outlets to sell cancer to our citizens and the Ministry isn’t doing anything about it. On top of that, some narcotics are missing from the Ministry’s pharmacies without any official action taken,” the legislator added.

The Council’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and National Security Committee Deputy Chairman Mohammed Al Jowder said, “It has been 14 years and these violations are annually being repeated. We must take deterrent actions and combat this corruption. Violators should be held accountable whether they steal something as small as a cup or big amounts from public money. We need a strong will to fight and eradicate corruption.”

Violations decreased: Minister

Minister of  Shura Council and Parliament Affairs Ghanim Al Buainain said the government acknowledges the violations mentioned in NAO report.

“The report reflected facts that take place in government authorities. It’s a tool to rectify situations in them. Violations decreased by 38pc in comparison with the report issued last year. This proves an improvement in the performance of governmental establishments,” Al Buainain stated, adding that “violators will be referred to the concerned authorities to be held accountable for the violations committed.”