BFA Yet to Account for Millions from FIFA Forward Projects Grants  

Sunday Standard BFA Yet to Account for Millions from FIFA Forward Projects Grants   Millions of Pulas given to Botswana Football Association (BFA) for projects under the FIFA Forward 1.0 and 2.0 initiatives are yet to be accounted for. FIFA Forward, which was first launched in 2016, is the football world governing’s initiative to develop football across its more than 211 members. Under this program, football associations, including BFA, make tailor made requests to FIFA to finance certain football projects within its jurisdiction.  These projects are designed to support areas of need such as ‘infrastructure development, football development, competitions, capacity building, administration or other institutional priorities.’ This support however comes under strict auditing expectations. FIFA demands detailed reports to show the monies were used for projects as required. If these strict auditing requirements are met, the association is then able to request for more support to undertake similar projects. A failure to adhere to the strict auditing requirements however means no further monies can be released towards similar projects. And this is where the BFA finds itself. Since inception of the FIFA Forward initiative, the BFA has more often successfully tapped into this source. However, reports show that the association has failed to account for millions of pulas acquired from FIFA. These accounting failures date back to the year 2017, when the BFA was given its first grants under the initiative. BFA project management consultant Molefi Obenne has revealed that from the eighteen (18) projects financed under the initiative, only six (6) have been accounted for.   During the initial roll-out of the initiative, the FIFA Forward 1.0 between 2016 and 2018, BFA were granted assistance for at least 13 projects. From these, only six projects were completed or accounted for and closed. Seven are yet to be accounted for. In the FIFA Forward 2.0 initiative, five projects were financed. As of now, none has been accounted for or closed. Presenting at the inaugural BFA Football Pitso, Obenne said all the unfinished projects were those under the direct purview of the association. The closed projects on the other hand are those which had been awarded to external service providers. Among the projects which are unaccounted for are the Grassroots and Youth Football Competition (financed at US$750 000 or +/- P10 122 000), Botswana Football League project (US$107,803.32 in FIFA Forward 1.0 and US$371,556.68 in FIFA Forward 2.0 respectively), the Regional Football League Project (US$297,579.66) as well as several capacity building workshops. In the absence of necessary reports required by FIFA, the BFA finds itself in an untenable situation. It cannot request for some of the remaining unused funds from the projects which are still with FIFA. The association can also not apply for funds to continue projects related to Botswana Football League, Grassroots and Youth Football Competitions or Regional Football League. The BFA is said to have realized the extent of the challenge when some of its requests for project financing were not approved. Upon request for clarity, it was informed no funds could be released until FIFA has been given reports on projects of similar nature which had been financed prior. Obenne said they have since engaged with the football world governing body seeking guidance on the matter. The BFA is now working around the clock to collate all reports and account to FIFA on how the funds were used. Going forward, the BFA says it will have to implement tight controls on finances as well as establish close monitoring on all projects. This comes as preliminary investigations ‘indicate that the main reason the projects were not formally closed was a weakness in project monitoring, reporting and financial control.’ “Historically, most project funding was disbursed in full at the beginning of the project, while comprehensive reporting was expected only upon completion. There were no consistent monthly or quarterly monitoring requirements to track expenditure, implementation progress, deliverables, risks and emerging variances.” “At this preliminary stage, there is insufficient evidence to conclude that project funds were deliberately redirected to other activities. This can only be established through a project-by-project reconciliation of approved budgets, bank transactions, payment records, procurement documents, invoices, progress reports and completed deliverables,” the BFA says. With uncertainty mounting on whether the BFA can get financing on similar projects to the ones it has not closed or accounted for, it now has to undertake a tedious task to audit all projects ‘to determine their status and use of funds for each of them.’  The post BFA Yet to Account for Millions from FIFA Forward Projects Grants   first appeared on Sunday Standard and is written by Sunday Standard Reporter