GOVERNMENT last year failed to use a total of ZWL$10,3 billion that was allocated towards vulnerable children under the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM), it has emerged.
Acting Auditor-General Rheah Kujinga, in her latest report, said the funds were not utilised due to absence of an effective mechanism to identify beneficiaries and non-reimbursement of funds utilised to meet parent ministry expenditures.
The BEAM operational manual is now outdated and not user friendly, having not been reviewed since 2016.
The funds reportedly lost value due to hyperinflation for the period that they were being held in the bank account.
Kujinga said schools could fail to deliver quality education as money remains at the ministry.
"During the year ended December 31, 2023, the ministry made payments to BEAM beneficiaries amounting to ZWL$77 470 697 373.
"These payments were made outside the PFMS contrary to Section 13 of the Public Finance Management (Treasury Instructions), 2019.
"The transactions were recorded on Microsoft Excel which did not have security features.
"This was caused by the absence of password to access the BEAM Management Information System (MIS) that was being used before the passing on of the administrator who was a super user and had all the passwords to the system.
"The ministry failed to recover the passwords and ended up resorting to the use of Microsoft Excel.
"The ministry also took a long to settle the outstanding BEAM obligations with schools and the funds owed lost value due to inflation," she said.
According to the report, amounts owed by the ministry for the year ended December 31, 2022 under the programme were paid during the year ended December 31, 2023.
The amount of ZWL$278 billion was owed to various schools at the end of 2023.
"On the other hand, the Ministry did not utilise ZWL$9 773 529 855 under the BEAM Programme, depriving schools use of much needed financial resources for delivering education services to pupils.
"An outdated manual might not be able to provide the guidelines required for effective management of the programme.
"Data might be manipulated if processed and stored on Microsoft Excel," she said.
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According to the report, disbursement of funds from the Treasury towards year end also affected utilisation of the funds as there was limited time within which payments could be processed.
She said there is need for regular monitoring of project implementation to ensure successful execution of Government initiatives.
Kujinga also recommended timely disbursement of funds by Treasury as essential to ensure that planned activities, especially for the vulnerable groups are implemented.
Government should review the BEAM manual as and when necessary and at least every five years.
She recommended an approved accounting software package for processing payments to ensure data integrity.
Meanwhile, work has already begun to review the manual to have it completed this year.
The ministry now has its own ICT Department, and it is hoped that working with the UNICEF funded administrator, the new system now being tested will go live on BEAM before year-end.
The arrears have now been partly paid using the 2024 budget, and at the current rate all the arrears will be cleared before year end It is acknowledged that the Ministry had a balance of ZWL$9 773 529 855 which was not utilised at year end.
Audit reports by the ministry's internal auditors revealed numerous errors by schools, which necessitated validating all claims before payment to curb overpayments and this led to lengthening the payment process thus resulting in the balance remaining unutilized.
