Five of 7 ships costing K13m not operating: AG

Reports by MALUM NALU

The Border Development Authority bought seven ships for more than K13 million from Indonesia in 2010 but five are not operating, according to the Auditor-General’s Report for 2016.
Auditor-General Philip Nauga said in the 2013 financial statement, which was issued in Nov 2016, that the BDA disclosed K20.2 million as its fixed assets on Dec 31, 2013 and the ships made up 67 per cent of those.
“I noted that the authority disclosed K20,243,684 as its fixed assets balance as at Dec 31, 2013,” he said.
“My examination of the available related records revealed that K13,512,435 – 67 per cent – of this total comprised the seven ships owned by the authority.
“Of these seven ships, I noted that only two were operating and engaged in coastal trade during the year, while the other five on most occasions were on slipways around the country awaiting maintenance and National Maritime Safety Authority clearance for sea worthiness.
“(This was) due to ships being built using sub-standard materials, resulting in high maintenance and operational costs.
“Consequently, these conditions necessitated the requirement for the ships to be revalued by an independent marine valuer to determine their fair values against their written down values.
“But the valuation of these ships had not been carried out by the authority during the year.
“As such, I was unable to determine the completeness, accuracy and valuation of the fixed assets balance disclosed at year end.”