Mara ticked off for high-priced purchases

Instead of fully utilising a RM54 million allocation to provide training courses for the hardcore poor, Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) spent money on related items - at 100 percent more than the market price.

The 2010 Auditor-General’s Report, tabled in the Dewan Rakyat today, states that the funds were provided under the second Economic Stimulus programme to help the poor boost their income

Some of the purchases highlighted in the report:

• An oven at RM1,200 compared to the market price of RM419, for baking and pastry-making courses in Kelantan
• Folding beds at RM500, against the market price of RM100
• Two-burner gas cookers at RM200 each, rather than RM59.90
• Hair clippers supplied at RM250 each, instead of RM79
• A blender at RM140 instead of RM60

The folding beds were used to train masseuses in traditional post-maternity massage; and the hair clippers were for grooming courses.

The report notes that most of the purchases were done through direct negotiations, not open tender, and without the Finance Ministry’s approval.

Standard operating procedures were not tabled before the Mara board of directors for approval either, reads the report.

Giatmara, which conducts the courses, ‘should provide detailed and complete standard operating procedures for the programme to be uniformly conducted nationwide’.

The report further notes that some decisions to buy equipment did not consider the conditions in which these would be operated.

For example, in Kapit, Sarawak, an oven and sewing machines were provided for a course, even when training centre had no electricity supply.

In other cases, cake mixers and blenders were not useful because these did not have the capacity required for cake mixtures.

Giatmara also bought a grinder with lower specifications to mix fish food, when participants could easily get fish feed in Perak.

The auditor-general has proposed that Giatmara should evaluate the capacity and suitability of each piece of equipment to meet needs.

‘Well-off participants’

Among the courses conducted are baking cakes and pastries, making layer cakes, tailoring and making nasi kandar.

However, some courses were deemed not relevant - such as making layer cakes in Sarawak, baking cakes and pastries in Kelantan, and rearing catfish in Perak.

Participants are to be drawn from those whose income is below RM720 in Peninsular Malaysia, RM830 in Sarawak and RM960 in Sabah.

Yet, the auditor-general’s team found that some of those who attended the courses are well-off and live in bungalows.

“Giatmara has determined that the participants should be registered under e-kasih system under the Prime Minister's Department.

“However, we found that 72.9 percent of the participants are not registered with e-kasih, under which those classified as ‘hardcore poor’ are registered by the village head, district officers or assistant district officers.

“Worse, some participants are well-off individuals and not the intended target group.”

The auditor-general has proposed that Giatmara checks the background of participants to ensure they are from the e-kasih group.

Even if they are not registered, Giatmara must verify their background in order to achieve targets.

The report adds, worryingly, that 61 participants or 47.3 percent of those interviewed had failed to generate income following the courses.