South West Region:

TPG frowns at corrupt tollgate

By Ajongakou Santos in Buea

Ayuk Peter Akpoeban, SW Treasury

Pay Master General (TPG)

Public accountants of the South West Region have been urged to shun corruption and misappropriation of public funds as a means towards better managing and protecting the state purse. The call was made by South West Governor, Bernard OkaliaBilai, in Buea on 19 February, as he presided over the Fourth Coordination Meeting of Public Accountants of the South West region for the 2015 financial year.

                 Addressing the treasurers, the governor urged them to among other things speed up production and submission of their accounting reports this so as to permit their hierarchy to better appraise the situation of the respective treasuries..

                For his part, the South West Paymaster General, Mr. Ayuk Peter Akpoeban hammered on the issues that draw the region and its municipalities behind when it comes to project execution. The TPG decried the late presentation of projects files by mayors and contractors which in turn accounts for late disbursement of money for important projects.

                Peter Ayuk also frowned at revenue collectors at tollgates and weighting stations who either delay in depositing their collections at the State treasury or have vamoosed with the money collected.

                While reiterating the fact that weighting stations are not aimed at making any profits but to ensure that vehicles respect their normal weights so as not to degrade the roads, Mr. Ayuk Peter decried the fact that revenues from the weighting stations have witnessed a drastic drop despite the increase in number of heavy duty trucks plying on the roads.

                The Paymaster General therefore called on all those concerned to be accountable and to pay in their collections promptly so as to enable the treasury to cover its recurrent charges before asking for support from Yaounde.

                Apart from agents at tollgate and weighting stations, the TPG also frowned at public accountants who do not produce their management accounts in time or fail to produce them at all. He noted that some accountants have not submitted any reports since 2004 and that so far about 112 management accounts are still awaited at his office.

                He noted quite unfortunately that some of those who had to produce and submit these accounts have either died or have gone on retirement and because of this there are no documents to justify operations that were done by them.

                As for Municipal Treasurers he urged them to be more professional in their work and to ensure a good working relationship with the council management. 

                As concerns efforts to fight corruption it emerged that two of the three treasurers who were incarcerated on charges of embezzlement have refunded the totality of what they stole, while the Bamusso treasurer is yet to completely reimburse his due.

                Other recommendations for better out put included duty consciousness, chronological payments, the need to master public accounting operations as prescribed for the CEMAC region, transparency and accountability in public expenditure among others.                      It was also suggested that the follow-up and verification of the investment execution by state control officials should be rendered continuous throughout the year, while the tender boards that were constituted for two years renewable once should be constituted for three years to conform to the 3-year visibility of the program budget.

                It should be noted that treasurers of the South West region were meeting for the 19th time since Mr. Ayuk Peter took over as TPG in April 2011.