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Caritas Zambia requests govt to cut down on foreign missions

Caritas Zambia requests govt to cut down on foreign missions
Written by Ernest Chanda
Thursday, February 12, 2009 2:16:53 AM

CARITAS Zambia has requested the government to cut down on the number of foreign missions.

And Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) general secretary Rev Suzzane Matale has questioned the failure by law enforcement agencies to act on cases of fraud as exposed in the Auditor General’s reports.

Making a submission on this year’s budget to the Extended Parliamentary Committee on Estimates chaired by Lukulu East member of parliament Batuke Imenda, Caritas Zambia economic justice programme officer Edmond Kangamungazi said the move could serve resources for the social sector.

“We are spending over K230 billion on foreign missions this year compared to K19 billion in 2008. There is need to reduce the size of Foreign Service to be in line with the level of economic activity. Do we really need all these missions...we need to be strategic in our missions,” he said.

Kangamungazi also wondered why the government allocated huge sums of money towards the sensitisation of staff on the use of government transport.

“It is shocking that government could allocate K34 million for sensitising staff how to use government transport. This does not make economic sense,” said Kangamungazi.

And Matale said the council was appalled by lack of concrete actions and reluctance to prosecute people who were involved in misapplication of funds as reported by the Auditor General’s office.

“Issues of fraud, under banking, misapplication of funds, misappropriation of funds, thefts, corruption in awarding performance contracts, poor workmanship, poor analysis and solution of recommendation from consultants, delays in contract awards, poor project supervision, as unearthed each year by the Auditor General’s reports, yet we have not heard that anybody was being taken to task or being called to account for such atrocious acts. Unless and until concrete measures are taken, allocations alone will not be good enough,” said Rev Matale.

Meanwhile, Non-Governmental Organisation Coordinating Council (NGOCC) chairperson Marian Munyinda proposed an increase in the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) exemption threshold for women.

“In realising the above and in order to reduce the income gap through this proposed measure, NGOCC is of the view that the Presidential entourage can be cut down by holding consultative meetings that can be presented and debated by smaller entourages,” said Munyinda.

Labels: AUDITOR GENERAL, CARITAS, CCZ, CORRUPTION, GOVERNANCE, SUZANNE MATALE

posted by MrK @ 2:16 AM