Maravi

Kanganja bemoans poor management of public resources

Kanganja bemoans poor management of public resources
Written by Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Tuesday, June 16, 2009 3:07:41 PM

THE performance of controlling officers entrusted with managing public resources is poor and needs to be improved with a sense of seriousness and urgency to safeguard public resources, Secretary to the Cabinet Dr Joshua Kanganja said yesterday.

And Secretary to the Treasury Likolo Ndalamei has observed that there has been no significant improvement in the management of public funds despite repeated meetings by Treasury to improve accountability and efficient use of public resources among controlling officers.

Dr Kanganja said the media reports as well as revelations from the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee indicated the failure by government controlling officers to adhere to set guidelines.

Dr Kanganja warned that controlling officers who did not abide by provisions of the legal instruments such as the public finance Act and regulations were liable to specified punishment.

"In a nutshell, our performance in managing the resources entrusted to us by the public is poor and needs to be improved with a sense of seriousness and urgency," Dr Kanganja said in his official address which was read by Ndalamei.

"Government has the mandate and responsibility to the Zambian people to govern in an accountable and transparent manner and deliver quality and cost-effective service, as controlling officers, you have the responsibility of spearheading the country's development and this can only be effectively done if public resources are safeguarded and utilised in a frugal manner."

Dr Kanganja said it was important that controlling officers took personal charge of monitoring the usage of all public resources entrusted to them.

He also said the widespread cases on abuse of public resources was an indication that most permanent secretaries were not implementing firmly what they were oriented and inducted to when they joined the civil service.

Dr Kanganja said the rampant abuse of public resources had been worsened by controlling officers ignoring internal audit reports.

"Please ensure that internal audit reports are studied and weaknesses disclosed dealt with expeditiously," he said.

"My recent investigations have revealed that if all controlling officers were paying particular attention to the work of internal auditors, the misuse and thefts or loss of public monies and stores would be minimised. Quite often, the paragraphs that appear in the Auditor General's report are compiled on the basis of the contents of your internal auditors' reports. Eternal vigilance on the part of all civil servants, oversight institutions and the general public is the key to ensuring that the public service is run in an accountable, transparent and efficient manner."

Dr Kanganja announced that he had directed Ndalamei to ensure that controlling officers discharged their mandate in the manner specified in their letters of appointment

"It is not wise to delegate the management of resources to procurement and accounting cadre staff and expect that they will supervise themselves," he said.

"Take a keen personal interest on issues of procurement, the work of ministerial or institutional tender committees and ensure that bank reconciliations are done at a regular basis, if they [controlling officers] were abiding by the guidance they are given, we would not have been experiencing the loss of public monies, resources and poor workmanship being exhibited by contractors and providers of other services...controlling officers who are found wanting should have their appointments as such revoked. I believe that if this is done, it would serve as a serious deterrent to others who do not take seriously their role of controlling officers."

Dr Kanganja urged the Ministry of Finance to embark on sensitisation of civil servants on prudent financial management saying the Treasury should also improve on monitoring and evaluations of programmes so that the government could be on target to implement the Fifth National Development Plan.

And Ndalamei regretted that every year the Auditor General's report continued to reveal that huge sums of money misappropriated and misapplied by public institutions.

Ndalamei said the revelations by the Auditor General's report revealed a serious weakness in the country's public finance management systems, the weakness he said needed to be urgently addressed.

He urged the controlling officers to provide leadership in efficient, transparent and accountable use of public resources.

"Some of you feel that some of the issues being brought up have been discussed in previous meetings, but you may wish to know that there are in our presence, newly appointed controlling officers who need to be brought abreast with the issues at hand," Ndalamei said.

"Moreover, there has not been significant change or improvements with regard to the management of public funds. Therefore, the main goal in discussing these issues at controlling officers meetings is to improve on cash and treasury management in public institutions, as well as to inform and deliberate on policy issues pertaining to effective management of public resources."

Meanwhile, Ndalamei was irked as most permanent secretaries and controlling officers reported late for the Financial Management Meeting for controlling officers at Mulungushi International Conference Centre.

The meeting which was scheduled to start at 08:30 hours only started at about 09:16 hours with a skeleton audience present.

Among the controlling officers who were present during the opening of the workshop included: Dr Eustern Mambwe [North Western Province], Mwalimu Simfukwe [Northern Province], Dr Godfrey Beene [Ministry of Mines], Jazzman Chikwakwa [Luapula Province], Davison Menda Menda [Ministry of Lands], Coillard Chibbonta [Ministry of Local Government and Housing] and Tens Kapoma [Ministry of Foreign Affairs].

Others were Gertrude Imbwae [Ministry of Justice], Dr Velepi Mtonga [Ministry of Health], Lilian Kapulu [Ministry of Education], Eularia Syamujaye [Eastern Province], Nicholas Kwendakwema [Ministry of Defence], Villie Lombanya [Copperbelt Province], Denny Lumbama [Central Province], Professor Isaac Phiri [Ministry of Agriculture in charge of livestock] and Lieutenant Colonel Bizwayo Nkunika [Ministry of Works and Supply].

Labels: CORRUPTION, JOSHUA KANGANJA, LIKOLO NDALAMEI

posted by MrK @ 2:07 PM