Kaupa to address issues

By MALUM NALU
Housing and Urbanisation Minister John Kaupa fully agrees with the Auditor-General’s Report for 2016 which reveals massive discrepancies in the National Housing Corporation (NHC).
Responding to a report published in The National yesterday, which said the NHC had not submitted financial statements for 2014, 2015 and 2016, Kaupa said:  “What appeared in the newspaper is exact and correct.
“There’s nothing wrong with it and it’s perfectly right.
“The Auditor-General’s Report, from 2013 up 2016, is absolutely correct.
“As the new minister, I’m working on that, and putting my own audit team in place.
“They are scrutinising everything going back.
“In the past, the housing corporation was riddled with allegations of corruption which everyone knew about.
“I’ve been directed by this government and the prime minister to look into this. “This is my first and foremost responsibility. “I have to get my housekeeping in place, especially the bureaucrats within the housing corporation.
“What’s captured in the Auditor-General’s Report is the fault of those bureaucrats.”
The NHC’s 2013 financial statement checked by the Auditor-General said it was left open to “abuse and fraud”.
Kaupa said he had set up a National Housing Corporation recovery team to be made up of lawyers and stakeholders to carry out a thorough inventory check throughout the country.
“It’s my responsibility to look into this and come up with a report,” he said. “I’m taking a step forward to correct all these mistakes of the past.”
Kaupa said the NHC’s accounting system was not computerized.
“I’m now restructuring the whole system,” he said.