Sheep Distribution Project — Ministry of Agriculture in Palestine

-        Seeing the violations by the Ministry of Agriculture in the "Sheep Distribution Project" for 2017, as shown in the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) report for 2019, arouses astonishment and shock at what some public service behavior has come to in a vital sector such as the social and cultural services sector.. What makes matters worse is that the Ministry of Agriculture's response to the Bureau's observations was disappointing, being nothing more than justifications for the observations contained in the Bureau's report... and this explicitly means justifications for some grave violations of the professional conduct rules of the public service.! The Ministry should have, in its response, immediately held those involved accountable for violating the law and regulations in this project intended for the poor and financed by charitable external parties..., and this accountability should be strict.. so that it would serve as a lesson for anyone who would dare to be negligent with public funds, to scorn citizens’ trust, and to disregard their entrenched right to public funds and the fairness of their distribution.. I almost believe that there are signs of corruption emanating from some of the observations recorded in the Sheep Distribution Project...!

-        The State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) conducted a compliance audit of the Ministry of Agriculture's implementation of the Sheep Distribution Project for poor households, financed by the Al-Waleed bin Talal Foundation in 2017. The following are the most important observations the report concluded:

·       The Ministry of Agriculture amended the estimated budget items for the projects without basing those amendments on any written studies or justifications that would justify the purpose and added value of these amendments.

·       The Ministry of Agriculture did not prepare economic feasibility studies for the Sheep Distribution Project, as the ministry's preparatory committee modified the beneficiary bracket and the number of sheep to be distributed according to personal discretion.!

·       The Ministry of Finance (Directorate of General Supplies) awarded the sheep supply tender, and it was found that the actual cost per head of sheep exceeded the estimated cost by 19.8%.. contrary to the Public Procurement Law.

·       Delivery procedures:

-        The supplier delayed delivering the required number of sheep to the ministry by 5 months beyond the specified delivery date, in addition to the absence of reports from the veterinary physician proving that the sheep had undergone veterinary inspection prior to receipt.

-        The selection of many of the sheep was not compliant with the specifications and technical conditions, according to the technical report issued by the Director General of Veterinary Services, and the laboratory tests conducted on the sheep show a high rate of infection with contagious diseases that cause abortion and lack of productivity, and therefore they do not provide benefit.!

·       Distribution criteria:

-        Some directorates of agriculture in the governorates selected beneficiaries of the Sheep Distribution Project without selection bases and criteria, which led to unequal opportunities among beneficiaries and citizens.

-        The Ministry of Agriculture did not comply with distributing quotas to the ministry's directorates according to the poverty rate obtained from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).!

-        There was no communication or coordination with the Ministry of Social Development regarding the selection of beneficiaries from the poor categories in the Sheep Distribution Project.

-        The ministry set normative marks for beneficiaries who did not meet the previously announced eligibility conditions.

-        The Ministry of Agriculture did not take the necessary measures to prevent conflicts of interest between members of the committees assigned to the project and the project's beneficiaries.!

·       Taking legal measures

-        The ministry did not take legal measures against beneficiaries who sold the sheep granted to them under the project, where the cost of purchasing them under the project amounted to 85,682 دولار, noting that the beneficiaries signed a notarized undertaking indicating payment of the full value of the project to the Ministry of Agriculture in the event of disposition contrary to what was planned.

·       The entity's response to the report: "The Ministry of Agriculture's response consisted of justifications for the observations contained.".!

·       On 2-11-2020