Maravi

Lack of financial accountability costing Zambia – Milupi

Lack of financial accountability costing Zambia – Milupi
By Florence Bupe
Sat 20 Mar. 2010, 03:00 CAT

LUENA Independent member of parliament Charles Milupi has said the unwillingness by the government to ensure financial accountability is costing the country its much needed development.

Raising the concern when the Office of the Vice President’s Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) appeared before the parliamentary public accounts committee on Thursday, Milupi said the government was too lenient on offenders.

“What we are seeing is unwillingness on the part of government to enforce regulations. It is disappointing that financial procedures are not being followed and nothing is being done to correct the situation,” he said.

Milupi said for as long as financial regulations in public institutions were not adhered to, the country would continue to lose huge sums of money through unretired imprest.

And parliamentary public accounts committee chairperson Emmanuel Hachipuka said the failure to account for funds was a sign of lack of integrity.

“The failure to account for money shows lack of integrity on the part of Zambians. It is important that procedures are followed right from the top, starting with the Auditor General’s office,” said Hachipuka.

Meanwhile, permanent secretary in the Office of the Vice-President Davies Sampa said his office could not give any accountability of funeral expenses for late president Levy Mwanawasa because they were not involved.

“We have failed to account for the figures to do with the late president’s funeral expenses because we are not aware of the expenses,” said Sampa.

Labels: CHARLES MILUPI, DMMU, EMMANUEL HACHIPUKA

posted by MrK @ 12:01 PM