CUEPACS CALLS FOR OVERHAUL OF GOVERNMENT AUDIT AND PROCUREMENT

Bernama

28/10/2009

KUALA LUMPUR Oct.27 — The Government should take immediate steps to overhaul the auditing and procurement systems to cut down losses due to abuses, CUEPACS secretary-general, Ahmad Shah Mohd.Zin said today.
As a first step, the auditing should be done every six months so that abuses could be identified early and remedial action taken immediately, he said in commenting on reports of abuses and irregularities in the 2008 Auditor-General”s Report released last week.
"What is happening now is that the report is usually very late and by the time it is made public, the officers responsible are either transferred or have retired, so it becomes very difficult to act against the culprits,” he told Bernama. - Bernama

Berita Harian
28/10/2009

SELEPAS pembentangan Bajet 2010 oleh Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Jumaat minggu lalu, Mamat tidak dengar mana-mana pihak mahu menaikkan harga barang atau perkhidmatan. Mereka berdiam diri kerana sedar tidak ada sebab harga dinaikkan kerana tidak ada beban baru dikenakan ke atas mereka. Cuma, Mamat bimbang tuntutan Cuepacs mendapatkan dua bulan bonus kepada kakitangan awam dan pesara, boleh menyebabkan peniaga terbeliak mata.

Mamat - orang mengantuk disorong bantal

DREADFUL WASTE!

Malay Mail
Submitted by pekwan
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
Pauline Almeida

TWO private bodies yesterday joined the growing call for enforcement against errant parties named in the Auditor-General’s Report 2007-2008.
The Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) bemoaned that supervision was lacking in the awarding and procurement of contracts, resulting in the authorities incurring an estimated loss of RM28 billion a year.
“It should not happen. Now the affected agencies should be responsible enough to explain to the higher-ups for these mistakes, as RM28 billion is somewhat equivalent to the budget of a State,” said its president Omar Osman.
Cuepacs represents some 1.2 million government employees.
Asli Centre of Public and Policy Studies chairman, Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam, described the Auditor-General’s report as a dreadful story of wastage — in contrast to the announcement of a good Budget for 2010.“We have been receiving such revelations from the Auditor-General in the last five to 10 years. It shows clearly that supervision is lacking.
This carries on because disciplinary action has not been quick to punish those who have betrayed the public trust,” said Ramon, formerly Transparency International president.
“The rules and regulations have been in place for a long time to handle cases of maladministration of funds, but they are being ignored,” he added.
The latest report revealed that the Federal and State governments are losing billions of ringgit every year through over-priced contracts for things ranging from huge water tunnel projects to the outsourcing of information technology services.
Calls are being made by various parties, urging the government to take urgent measures to rectify abuses in the administration of public funds and the affected agencies to be held responsible for losses.

Malaysiakini
27/10/2009


The recent budget may have brought cheers to many but sadly it was a big blow for the civil servants especially to Congress of Union Employees in the Public and Civil Service (Cuepacs) members.
The Cuepacs chairperson had been assuring civil servants time and again that the government had indicated positively to its request for a bonus payment.
Many civil servants were utterly disappointed when there was no announcement of such a bonus. The Cuepacs chairperson should not mislead the civil servants with all kinds of promises and false hopes just to gain popularity among the civil servants.
Cuepacs ought to be realistic and pragmatic in its approach, especially in issuing press statements with regards to the bonus payment. When the government has not agreed to a bonus payment why give false hopes to the civil servants?
Cuepecs should realise that it is not fair to expect much from the government due to the global economic slow down which has affected the country's economic performance greatly.
It should instead focus its efforts on creating awareness among the civil servants on the need to improve their productivity and not to expect too much of hand-outs from the government during these difficult times.
The token allowance of RM500 for civil servants announced by the prime minister in his maiden budget speech has somewhat come in handy for those in the lower salary brackets.
However, there are others who view it as pittance. Many are also wondering how is it that government- linked agencies can pay hefty bonuses to their staff during these difficult times.
Anyway, it was Cuepacs that raised the hopes of these civil servants to a point of saying that the government had somewhat agreed to give a two-months bonus.
Cuepacs has a lot of explanation to do for misleading the civil servants. Perhaps it is time for the present Cuepacs chairperson to pass the leadership baton to someone else as he is sounding more like a politician nowadays