Leakages, irregular payments and wastages are three national headaches that refuse to go away.
But will they, this time, after Parliament debates the hundreds of millions lost to these three cursed causes highlighted in the 2020 and 2021 Auditor General reports?
Unlikely. Past conduct points to things getting worse. The reason is this: Parliament alone can't cause the change in bad behaviours, some of which are willed.
Yes, they can name and shame the agencies in Parliament. Maybe even suggest strategies to stop the loss. But nothing will change if leaders of the public service don't cause the change.
So long as heads don't roll, leakages, irregularities and wastages will continue to keep the nation in red. We are quick to talk about accountability, but we hold almost none to account.
Remember this: even in public service, none is indispensable. Big or small of positions, all must pay for their incompetence or corrupt behaviour.
Like previous publications, the 2021 Auditor General's Report is screaming for accountability.
In 2021, the public service lost RM158.08 million to leakages, irregular payments and wastages, Series 2 of the report released on Feb 16 reveals. Leakages alone topped the list with RM116.95 million.
Irregular payments were next with RM26.03 million, followed by wastages at RM15.1 million. Heading the shame list was the Customs Department, which lost RM72.32 million to understated Customs duties on vehicles.
Note, "understated" not "underdeclared", which only means either incompetence or corruption. For either cause, accountability is the right medicine.
For the first, heads must roll. And for the second, prison is the best correctional centre. The department must be reminded that this isn't the first time it was in the news for all the wrong reasons.
Déjà vu has gripped the nation before. The Customs Department thinks it can solve the problem by revamping its system. Here is some advice.
System alone doesn't make an organisation. Staff make up a good portion of it. Get an incompetent or a corrupt one and the organisation will crumble in no time.
True for the department, true for others. Sticking to the 2021 report, the Customs Department isn't the only government agency that disappoints.
Even the Prime Minister's Department, a small outfit which should have done everything to remain outside the report, had its fair share of losses: RM1.66 million in uncollected rentals from government quarters.
If the Prime Minister's Department needs such a close supervision, imagine the close watch others need.
We would have thought the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP), which polices the nation, needs no policing. The Series 2 report says otherwise.
In the year the report covers, RMP lost RM17.76 million to irregular payments. It is said to have paid a contractor hired to print summonses and send them on its behalf even before the summonses were printed.
At this rate, contractors should be queuing up to offer services to RMP.
The National Audit Department is doing a good job in listing the diseases. But this isn't enough. It must devote "Series" reports to the cures administered and prevention measures adopted.
Somewhere in there must be the number of people held accountable and heads that rolled, no matter on how high shoulders the heads rest. There is no better deterrence than this.