Maravi

Failure to act on audit reports frustrates auditors

Failure to act on audit reports frustrates auditors
By Kabanda Chulu and Lemmy Likando
Thursday September 20, 2007 [04:00]

THERE is a lot of frustration among auditors when reports of misappropriation of funds are not acted upon, director of ministerial audits in the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) Henry Zulu has said. And Zulu said there was need for the OAG to have prosecution powers if the rampant abuse of public funds was to be reduced.

Presenting a paper on the role of the Auditor General in public finance at the ongoing media economic reporting workshop on Tuesday, Zulu said there was too much demoralisation when action was not taken on the audit reports.

"We really get frustrated when no action is taken about our reports and there is too much demoralisation because every year we investigate and compile comprehensive data, which brings out same results but action is not taken but we are happy with the current composition of the Public Accounts Committee and we hope their recommendations will be acted upon," Zulu said.

He explained that the OAG was completely independent in as far as planning and execution of general operations was concerned.

"But we are not financially independent because the finance ministry decides when and how much to disburse for our operations and generally this hinders progress but we submitted to the Constitutional Review Commission that this position should change," he said.

Zulu said in order to reduce the rampant abuse and mismanagement of public funds, the Auditor General's office should have prosecution powers.

"It will be good to have prosecution powers especially that the investigation process begins with us; however, we do not have time to see the conclusion of court cases since our core business is auditing and we also lack sufficient manpower to establish a legal department, so at the moment colleagues with prosecution powers are able to take over our investigations and we share notes," he said.

Zulu also said plans were underway to establish offices at district level by 2009 in order to provide audits to local authorities around the country.

Labels: AUDITOR GENERAL, CORRUPTION, HENRY ZULU

posted by MrK @ 5:31 AM