As stipulated in the Factories Act of 1974, a report on the status of the Factory Inspectorate Division has described its equipment/machines as defective, obsolete and not functional enough to support the thorough inspection of factories.
The ineffective functioning of the Factory Inspectorate was discovered following interviews conducted with key personnel of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, as well as physical verification of factory facilities by Auditors.
It revealed that the majority of the Factory Inspectorate’s equipment/machines such as gas ovens, central lathe machine, liquid petroleum gas cylinder testing bay, tensile strength machine, rope and chain testing machines were faulty and outdated.
An audit into the Ministry for the year 2014 to 2016 has also observed that the Division was said to have not maintained a comprehensive database of the status of factories operating in the country for the period under review as provided for by law.
According to Sections 7 & 8 of the Factories Act of 1974, it is mandatory for the annual registration of factories operating in the country. It was however observed that this provision was not complied with by factories operating in the country during the period under review.
“The review of a validated list of factories not registered revealed that 118 factories assessed with an estimated registration fee of Le62,250,000 failed to regularise their status even though they were verified and advised to do so by the Factory Inspectorate,” the report notes.
In addition, Section 8(3) of the same Act mandates that, failure by factories to pay assessment fees should attract a fine of Le100. This fine has been seen by the Auditors as not reflective of the prevailing economic situation in the country,
taking into consideration financial and other resources spent to conduct assessment of factories.
It was recommended that the Permanent Secretary (PS) should ensure collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED) for the provision of funds to procure equipment necessary for the proper functioning of the Factory Inspectorate.
The PS said that the Ministry is aware that the division needs an upgrade to enable it to deliver on its mandate and generate the required revenue for government. Mindful of the obsolete state of the machinery and equipment, the Ministry generated a needs assessment report on the Factory Inspectorate, which was shared with MoFED in a memorandum referenced MLSS/MoFED/08/16 dated 9th August 2016.
MoFED responded in a memorandum referenced MF-Rev.100/62/01 requesting an estimate of which the Ministry generated a project document with cost, but they are yet to hear from MoFED since submission of the project document.
Nevertheless, they have again made a request for this support through the 2017 and 2018 development budgets.
By Zainab Iyamide Joaque
Thursday June 28, 2018.
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