Public transparency and accountability should be a delicate matter, indeed. That seems why countries put various forms of checks and balances to control public agencies through general audits and parliamentary oversights. This is not only in order to fight corruption and embezzlement, but also to ensure that the public’s business is managed in the most efficient and productive manner.

Despite these measures, there are days where some incredible news comes to the public’s attention; such as what happened last week when officials from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED) revealed long forgotten bank accounts with hundreds of millions of Birr of public money stashed in them. If it were not for the extreme pressure they were put under by the Prime Minister, who wanted them to find 1.016 billion Br to finance the largest supplementary budget that the administration has ever asked for, the anomaly would have remained undisclosed, gossip claims.
 

Never has the Ministry recorded such a huge budget deficit as has been revealed in the current year, according to gossip. And much of the requests were made by federal agencies that are carrying out indispensable public infrastructure projects such as roads, thus it was not open for reconsiderations. There were other requests, such as those made by the Ethiopian Television and Radio Enterprise as well as the Ethiopian Quality and Standards Authority, both wanted a little more cash so that they could make their employees happy by fulfilling the government’s promise of salary increases.

That seems to be the main reason why officials at the Ministry - perhaps in an act of desperation – buried their heads into old files covered by dust. Little did they expect that the odds would be in their favour and that they would discover ‘lost’ funds.  This was quite an unexpected - but unfortunately unpleasant - surprise, says gossip.

They discovered close to 229 outstanding accounts (50 of which are held by the Ministry itself) with a total fund of 160.6 million Br, gossip disclosed. This was not including the additional 84.5 million Br  of unused  public funds that were allocated way back in the years of the military government, because state agencies failed to spend the approved expenditures for procurement attributed to terminated letters of credit or contracts that were not honoured due to disagreements with suppliers.

Sufian Ahmed’s, minister of MoFED, was excited by having to deliver the good news to the Council of Ministers, his happiness was short-lived though according to gossip when, at a meeting with the Prime Minister last week, Meles expressed scepticism and dismay about the Ministry’s acumen, or rather, lack of it, in safeguarding public funds.

What followed was public laundering on such negligence: The case was sent to Parliament for discussion.  MPs from the Budget Affairs Standing Committee were equally stunned by the news that there is a government that has the luxury of not minding some of its own cash, gossip claims.