Audit exposes financial irregularities at Bingu Stadium

An audit into the Bingu National Stadium (BNS) financial transactions has revealed that the facility’s management failed to account for about K4.5 million from the revenue it generated in the 2017/ 18 financial year.

This revelation is contained in the Malawi Government Accounts Audit for the year ending June 30, 2018 which the acting Auditor General Thomas Makiwa has just released.

The report shows that the audit into the BNS was pinned on K12.9 million which the stadium was supposed to deposit into the main government account widely known as Account Number One.

However, the report outlines that only K8.5 million was accounted for.

“An examination of financial records disclosed that BNS collected K12 917 788.07 which was supposed to be banked intact, but actual amount banked was K8 500 000.00 leaving a balance of K4 417 788 07 unaccounted for,” it reads.

BNS officials refused to comment on the matter referring the Weekend Nation to the Ministry of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development.

The ministry’s spokesperson Christina Mtukumula said they were working on rectifying the issue.

“The issue that appeared in the National Audit Report about unaccounted funds at the Bingu National Stadium is being handled. The relevant documents accounting for the funds were in a new file which was not part of the audited files,” she said without getting into details.

“The management at the stadium are working hand in hand with our internal auditor to address the matter,” she said.

A source at the ministry said in the financial year, the stadium generated K100 million of which K88 million was deposited into the government account.

“So the K12 million plus which the report is quoting is part of the same money, but was not deposited because we spent it on other things like cleaning services and paying bills,” he said.

The source further said the audit traced documents “supporting the K8.5 million expenditure, but not the K4.5 million”.

BNS generates its revenue through leasing out corporate rooms,  hosting of events such as workshops, but its substantial amount is realised through football matches.

Meanwhile, business management consultant George Kaudza Masina described the development as worrisome since BNS is new and just establishing its footprint.

“For a new facility, K4.5 million is a lot of money and in the years to come it could even be worse. For a long time people have been taking these facilities [stadiums] as if it were their personal estates,” he said.

Kaudza Masina has asked government to give specialised training to the stadium’s staff on how to manage thefacility.

“Stadium management is a profession on itself and most people running these facilities have not been trained on that.  Maybe, it will be ideal to train our people managing these facilities otherwise we will just be blaming people who do not have the capacity to run them,” he said. n

n audit into the Bingu National Stadium (BNS) financial transactions has revealed that the facility’s management failed to account for about K4.5 million from the revenue it generated in the 2017/ 18 financial year.

This revelation is contained in the Malawi Government Accounts Audit for the year ending June 30, 2018 which the acting Auditor General Thomas Makiwa has just released.

The report shows that the audit into the BNS was pinned on K12.9 million which the stadium was supposed to deposit into the main government account widely known as Account Number One.

However, the report outlines that only K8.5 million was accounted for.

“An examination of financial records disclosed that BNS collected K12 917 788.07 which was supposed to be banked intact, but actual amount banked was K8 500 000.00 leaving a balance of K4 417 788 07 unaccounted for,” it reads.

BNS officials refused to comment on the matter referring the Weekend Nation to the Ministry of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development.

The ministry’s spokesperson Christina Mtukumula said they were working on rectifying the issue.

“The issue that appeared in the National Audit Report about unaccounted funds at the Bingu National Stadium is being handled. The relevant documents accounting for the funds were in a new file which was not part of the audited files,” she said without getting into details.

“The management at the stadium are working hand in hand with our internal auditor to address the matter,” she said.

A source at the ministry said in the financial year, the stadium generated K100 million of which K88 million was deposited into the government account.

“So the K12 million plus which the report is quoting is part of the same money, but was not deposited because we spent it on other things like cleaning services and paying bills,” he said.

The source further said the audit traced documents “supporting the K8.5 million expenditure, but not the K4.5 million”.

BNS generates its revenue through leasing out corporate rooms,  hosting of events such as workshops, but its substantial amount is realised through football matches.

Meanwhile, business management consultant George Kaudza Masina described the development as worrisome since BNS is new and just establishing its footprint.

“For a new facility, K4.5 million is a lot of money and in the years to come it could even be worse. For a long time people have been taking these facilities [stadiums] as if it were their personal estates,” he said.

Kaudza Masina has asked government to give specialised training to the stadium’s staff on how to manage thefacility.

“Stadium management is a profession on itself and most people running these facilities have not been trained on that.  Maybe, it will be ideal to train our people managing these facilities otherwise we will just be blaming people who do not have the capacity to run them,” he said. n