Lockdown food packs sent to wrong division: Audit report

Thousands of food ration packs meant for households locked down in the Suva-Nausori containment zone during the COVID-19 pandemic were instead delivered to the Western Division.

This was revealed in the Standing Committee on Public Accounts’ compliance review report tabled in Parliament this month.

The report found that 5,400 of the 40,000 packs procured by the Ministry of Finance at a cost of $1,690,455 were misallocated. The report also found major delays in getting food to isolated households.

Standard operating procedures aimed for delivery within two to three days, but auditors found actual delivery times ranged from zero to 37 days.

Only 11 per cent of packs arrived within three days, while 253 packs took between 20 and 37 days to reach recipients.

“Delivery after 14 days’ isolation period defeated the program’s purpose,” the report stated.

Auditors also found that 2,187 households received food packs without applying after deliveries were extended to neighbouring homes, while 71 duplicate names appeared on the master distribution list.

Applications and packs distributed did not match, with 28,864 people applying but 29,308 packs handed out.

The Ministry told the Committee that social distancing rules prevented staff from recording recipients’ identification during delivery.

Committee chair Manoa Kamikamica said in his foreword that while ministries did their best under difficult circumstances, “corrective action is required to address the weaknesses identified.”

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