AG’s report continues to be catalogue of shame By R Nadeswaran

Malaysiakini : COMMENT | Having used excerpts from the document in my line of work over the years, I termed it a catalogue of shame, but on Friday, someone called it the annual joke book which comes in editions.

We were both referring to the Auditor-General's Report and reading news reports on the latest quarterly findings, not much has changed - the misfeasors, as usual, were all civil servants. If at all others were involved, most were abetters.

In 2021, the World Bank estimated that 20 to 30 percent of the country's budget for public contracts was wasted. And the AG’s report gave an idea of how and why these things happen.

But this is not a new phenomenon. Year after year and report after report, the same issues are brought up and it does not seem to shame or bother the many government servants who were to blame.

Read it all here...........

Kilimanjaro: We can blame the civil servants, we can blame the ministries, we can blame the contractors, and we can blame the whole world, but this blame should be posted on the door of the prime minister’s office. At the end of the day, "if the head rots, what much can be said of the tail".

This shows that we have been having useless prime ministers who prefer to "close one eye". How irritating can it be and can become when the report card flashes a great score? Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has been talking fervently and seriously about the state of corruption and the earnest desire to stop it.

Desire alone will not get the job done. There must be a will and above all, he must "walk the talk". If the past reports and former auditor-general Ambrin Buang’s comments are to be considered seriously, then it does not take a minute to write off past prime ministers as having failed this test - failed to walk the talk.

In a way that reminds us of comedians, the Chief Secretary to the Government Mohd Zuki Ali had directed the public services department to take immediate action against the annual leakages and wastage of public funds revealed in the recently published Auditor-General’s Report.

This shows a poor and weak leader who seems to rush after the horse after it had bolted. Is he fit for the job? Heading a civil service that consists of offenders year after year, he should have already in place measures to prevent these recurring. So, when are we going to see the report card from the chief secretary?

Based on this latest report, it will not be a good report card for him. Hopefully, he will wake up before the horse bolts again. Politicians come and go. So I would not hasten to point fingers at politicians. A subservient civil service and one that is far from being professional as incorrectly claimed by the Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) president Adnan Mat, the head of the civil service, Mohd Zuki Ali lacks the leadership to head such a large entity.

Blame it on anything and anyone but the buck stops at his doorstep. Essentially, the Auditor-General’s Report is the report card of the chief secretary, and it doesn't look good, isn’t it?

Read it all here..............