Maravi

Parliamentary committee warns council secretaries over public funds

Parliamentary committee warns council secretaries over public funds
By Florence Bupe
Wed 12 May 2010, 04:00 CAT

THE parliamentary committee on local governance, housing and chiefs’ affairs has warned that council secretaries will be penalised for failing to supervise the disbursement of public funds.

Committee chairperson Regina Musokotwane said most councils were underperforming and failing to account for funds because of weaknesses at supervisory level.

“We need to change the method of recovering funds, especially imprest, by penalising chief officers. It is clear that they are the ones who are misdirecting their officers,” she said.

Musokotwane, who is also Katombola UPND member of parliament, said chief officers had the responsibility to ensure that imprest was retired within the stipulated 48 hours of the responsible officer’s return from duty, as required under the country’s financial regulations.

“Most chief officers are not doing enough to ensure financial accountability, and this should not be tolerated. The issue of imprest should not be a query in the Auditor General’s Report year in and out,” she said.

Musokotwane said she would request the Minister of Finance and National Planning to issue a circular announcing the changes and expressed optimism that the new system would address the current inefficiencies.

She said the current system of recovering imprest from involved officers’ salaries was inappropriate.

And committee member Major Robbie Chizyuka observed that district councils had qualified officers who were not applying their knowledge to bettering the operations of the local authority institutions.

He said the committee would not take the issue of unaccounted funds lightly.
“Why should it be a problem for qualified personnel to prepare council financial accounts? It simply shows lack of seriousness on the part of chief officers,” Maj Chizyuka said.

Maj Chizyuka further expressed worry that the inefficient operation of most councils was hampering decentralisation efforts.

Labels: COUNCILS, HOUSING, REGINA MUSOKOTWANE

posted by MrK @ 3:50 PM