Members of the financial and budget commission of Afghanistan’s Wolesi Jirga (Parliament) on Wednesday questioned the legality of the Operation and Support Office of the President, saying the entity has implemented dozens of construction projects worth billions of Afs over the past few years, which is against the law.
 
MPs raised questions over the entity’s failure to report on its debts, and its implementation of projects without following the proper bidding process.
 
The government in an earlier budget draft had allocated 9.7 billion Afs for the office, however, the Ministry of Finance has now reduced the amount to 4.4 billion Afs in the third draft budget.
 
“The government side insists that 4.4 billion Afs, which has been deducted from the projects, is meant to pay the debts of the entity,” said Mir Afghan Safai, a member of Parliament’s financial and budget commission.
 
“The Operation and Support Office of the President is a policy-maker entity, it should not work on the projects of other ministries,” said Mohammad Azim Kibrzani, MP.
 
“They (MPs) themselves provided credibility to the Operation and Support Office of the President,” said Naseer Ahmad, the head of the budget department of the Ministry of Finance.
 
“No one knows how much money had been spent and where and what work had been done,” said Ziauddin Aryayee Nizhad, MP.
 
The Operation and Support Office of the President has so far refrained from providing information about the debts of the entity. However, the office on their social media page has said that it had concluded the construction of 377 mosques across the country.
 
According to the lawmakers, millions of Afs have been embezzled during the implementation of the construction projects while being monitored by the entity.
 
Construction of railway track, construction of schools and hospitals and the renovation of historical sites are among the key projects that have been implemented by the entity since it was established in 2017.