The annual report issued by the Audit Bureau, which includes all the observations and shortcomings that marred the audit, examination and review of the work of the Ministry of Social Affairs for the fiscal (2021/2022), revealed a great neglect that affected the wedding halls of the Ministry, which are spread over in all governorates, due to the refusal of the Ministers of Social Affairs — the current and former — to sign contracts for the maintenance of the halls damaged caused during the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to a local Arabic daily, the ministry’s neglect of the halls for several years and not spending all the allocated money for renovations in violation of Cabinet Resolutions No. 637/2001 and 906/2016 has caused damage to the halls.
The report stated that the audit work revealed that the ministry did not carry out the maintenance work and did not spend the allocated money in the budget under the item “radical maintenance” (civil – social services facilities), for which 1.533 million dinars were approved, indicating that what was spent only 697 thousand and that the total amount of savings amounted to 835 thousand, which increased the depreciation of the halls and raised the financial cost required for their maintenance and restoration, stressing the need for the Ministry to include the maintenance of halls within its plan for the draft budget for the fiscal year 2022/2023, so that their maintenance could continue.
The sources stressed that keeping the situation as it is, without carrying out maintenance work and repairing the halls, caused great embarrassment to the ministry, especially in light of the large number of social events at the present time, in contrast to the small number of halls available for reservations through the automated application “House of Events”, stressing that the condition of the halls has become deplorable, and in dire need of urgent radical maintenance.
