Government employers treat vehicles as their own

APIA – The abuse of public vehicles is costing the government “millions.”

That’s according to the Chairman of Parliament’s Public Finance Committee, Papali’i Niko Lee Hang, who says this comes at the top of the waste list, often resulting in government bodies blowing their budgets.

Papali’i made the comment during an interview with the Samoa Observer, when his opinion was sought over Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi’s S$785 million(US$333 million])budget for 2015-2016 tabled last month.

According to Papali’i, government bodies always and often complain about not having enough money allocated to them in the budget.

“It’s always a problem when the budget is released,” said Papali’i, who is a former Minister of Finance. But at times, government bodies are their own worst enemies.

“The main culprit in my view are reports of vehicle abuse,” he said.

“There is lot of unnecessary money being spent on petrol, maintenance and repairing these vehicles. What they –public servants – need to know is that such money is taxpayers’ money.”

Papali’i could not give a confirmed figure on how much the government spends every year on vehicles. But he guessed that it would be in the millions of tala.

He added that many public servants treat these government vehicles as if they are their own.

“They act as if it’s their money that pays for it. You see a lot of these vehicles are running around after hours and it’s something that ministries need to look at.”