Certain anomalies have been found on bus fare assistance through E-Ticketing for School Children, Disabled and the Elderly.

This was revealed in the Review of the Performance Audit Report on the Administrative and Management of the Bus Fare Assistance report.

The report was tabled in parliament by the Standing Committee on Public Accounts Chair Alvick Maharaj.

Maharaj says they have determined that policies and procedures implemented to support the Cabinet decisions are outdated and need to be reviewed as they were prepared for the voucher system before the e-ticketing system was introduced.

Maharaj says anomalies were found given the poor internal controls, including lack of monthly reconciliations of records between the Ministry of Education and the Department of Social Welfare and the e-ticketing service provider.

The report states that a detailed comparison carried out on data as of 6th February 2020 between records maintained by the e-ticketing service provider and that of the Ministry highlighted gaps in data governance as indicators for areas of improvement.

This includes a total of 148,893 inactive cards that have balances totaling over $2.9 million and 87,294 cards with funds that were incorrectly transferred, which amounted to over $745,000.

After reviewing the performance audit report on the Administrative and Management of the Bus Fare Assistance through E-Ticketing for the School Children, Disabled and the Elderly Persons, the Committee concurred with the Auditor General’s Office and made recommendations that the Ministry and the Department strengthen the reconciling of records with the e-ticketing service provider on a monthly basis.