The 1Azam scheme encountered controversy last year after a former aide of Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil, who was formerly women, family and community development minister, was questioned for misappropriating funds from the programme. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 10 — Half the participants of the 1Azam poverty eradication programme were unable to add even RM300 to their monthly household incomes under the scheme that has cost RM1.3 billion in public funds, the Auditor-General’s Report revealed today.

Under the government’s programme to tackle poverty by encouraging entrepreneurship, the report noted that just 49.82 per cent of 265 participants interviewed said they were able to increase their household income by more than RM300.

The report did not indicate the significance of the RM300 benchmark.

The third series of the 2013 report also noted that the programme jointly implemented by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Ministry, Sabah’s Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry and Sarawak’s Welfare, Women and Family Development Ministry, failed to select participants through the eKasih national database of households under the poor and hardcore poor category.

“... this was inconsistent with the decision made by the National Action Council (NAC) 3/2010 and also the resolution of the National Key Performance Indicators (NKPI) in 2011 and 2012.

“This caused non-participation from the targeted groups (poor/hardcore poor),” it noted.

The report also wrote that the Women’s Ministry’s justification for selecting 22 suppliers of goods worth RM8 million for participants, “could not be ascertained”.

Up to August 2014, the report said the implementing agency had failed to identify 33 or 9.79 per cent participants because the monitoring mechanism established was not fully implemented and that there was shortage of staff both in the ministry and the implementing agency.

The report suggested that a detailed study should be done before the aid is granted.

The 1Azam scheme encountered controversy last year after a former aide of Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil, who was formerly women, family and community development minister, was questioned for misappropriating funds from the programme.