By Ismaila Sonko
The National Assembly Select Committee on Public Enterprise has adjourned the sitting of the National Water and Electricity Company (NAWEC) Annual and Financial Statement Reports to 27th February, for a recommendation.
Baba Fatajo, the Managing Director of NAWEC said that the year 2016 witnessed series of developments such as electricity, water expansion and series of projects which brought about massive increment of our customer base.
“This development boosted both the economic and status of NAWEC. So the finalization in the implementation of major water projects to boost the supply of clean water for both the urban and rural population,” he added.
He also said that the expansion of Electricity was the major activities in 2015 up to 2016 which resulted in major maintenance works procurement for consultancies and works of major generation projects both for the Urban and Rural Gambia for additional Mega Wax with a brand new addition to the existing capacity and works was started in earnest.
“Like many developing countries and in the ECOWAS sub- region as well, affordable and reliable electricity continues to be a challenge under the unprecedented demand for electricity due rapid development,” he mentioned.
DG Fatajo calls on all the users of NAWEC services to promptly settle their bills to enable the company to meet its obligations, loan repayment and network expansion.
“Our drive towards industrialization and the transformation of the economy cannot be realized without the access to affordable and reliable electricity supply,” He explained.
Fatajo then said the Provision of Electricity is capital intensive, and by paying our bill on time, NAWEC will be in a better position to serve us better.
He mentioned that the year 2016 was characterized with an increase cost inputs which affected the financial solutions within the field of renewable energies such as wind and solar power and indeed public – private partnership.
Fatou Janko, Audit Manager of NAWEC, said inventory is stated at carrying value of D415.3 million as at 31 December 2016 from our audit work, we noted a difference of D31.6 million between the stock valuation reports and the general ledger balance. The difference was not supported, but reconciled by the management.
She then added that due to the above significant limitation on inventory, we couldn’t ascertain the valuation and existence of the inventory balance in the financial statement.
Mrs. Janko noted that the provision for bad and doubtful debt was charged at a flat rate of 15% on current receivable amounted to D 135 million. The basis of the provision was not in line with the current provision policy of the Company and was not supported with a debtor’s age listing.
“We were not provided with sufficient information and justification that would enable us to determine the valuation and completeness of receivables recorded in the financial statements, she said.
Madam Janko also said that payable balance of D 862.3 million was reported as detailed in note 14 of the Financial Statements, from our audit. We then noted that the total payable listing was less than the recorded general ledger balance by D 11millon. The difference was not reconciled and corrected by the management.
Furthermore, the listing included a total debit balance of D 56.4 million which could not be explained by the management. Further audit work revealed that supplier invoice were settled but not appropriately accounted. “We could not carry further tests on payables as we were also not provided with supplier statements for a selected sample of D 691 million.
She noted that D 8.8 billion is reported as long term loans in note 15 of the Financial Statement. The management didn’t not provide us with the relevant loan agreements or supporting loan schedules with insufficient evidence from management we were unable to ascertain the completeness and existence of the loan balance and there were no other procedures we could perform to ascertain the existence of this balance.
She explain that the Company reported cash balance of D 181.7 million and overdrawn bank balance of D 142.4 million as detailed in note 19 of the Financial Statement, from our audit test on cash and bank balances. We noted that the long reconciling items in the bank reconciliation amounted to D 328 million that were not cleared up to the time of reporting.
She also said that; the directors are responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of the Financial Statements in accordance with the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and the requirements of the company Act 2013, and for such internal control as the directors determined is necessary to enable the preparation of the Financial Statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.