Wastefulness and extravagance

Wastefulness and extravagance
By The Post
Fri 01 Apr. 2011, 04:00 CAT

We are told by Dr Peter Mwaba, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Health, that in 2009, his ministry spent more than K5 billion in payments to various lodges for seminars, workshops and conferences without seeking Cabinet Office authority.

And Dr Mwaba goes further to say that “in fact these workshops are a source of stress for the ministry. If we can manage this issue of workshops, then we can manage properly the use of resources because this is where issues of imprest arise and so forth”.

Truly, we need to manage the holding of workshops not only at the Ministry of Health but in all government ministries and departments and even at quasi-governmental institutions. This is a major problem even at non-governmental organisations that are funded by donors. Why is this so? This is simply because workshops are an easy conduit for stealing public and donor funds.

If one critically scrutinises the various lodges which were recipients of the K5 billion that is contained in the Auditor General’s report of 2009, it will certainly be discovered that the owners of these lodges have strong connections with the Ministry of Health. If they are not, then those who took those workshops, seminars and conferences to these lodges were beneficiaries of some kickbacks of one form or another from the owners or managers of those lodges.

It will also be discovered that most of the suppliers of services to these workshops, seminars or conferences are directly or indirectly connected to the Ministry of Health. Then of course there are benefits that accrue by mere attendance of these workshops through all sorts of allowances and per diems. Clearly, workshops, seminars and conferences are nothing but another source of corruption.

In saying this, we are not condemning all seminars, workshops and conferences. There are some legitimate ones that should out of necessity take place. But even where this is the case, expenditure at these seminars, workshops or conferences still needs to be managed in an efficient, effective and orderly manner.

Today in Zambia, almost every top civil servant or public officer owns a lodge; and they are fighting for government business to go there. Those who give them government business get huge rewards. And for this to be of value to them, the government or the sponsors of these seminars, workshops or conferences are made to overpay or are over-invoiced, and out of this, some commission is paid in cash to those who have brought the business. In this way, both the owners of the lodge and the civil servants or public officers who have arranged the business benefit. In this way, arranging for and attending workshops, seminars and conferences has become the only discernible preoccupation of most civil servants and public workers. They are very difficult to find in their offices because most of them are out attending workshops, seminars or conferences as a way of making money and enriching themselves.

We are a poor country with the great majority of our people living on far less than one dollar a day, and we can’t afford this type of wastefulness or extravagance. To push the great majority of our people out of extreme poverty needs intense efforts, which should include, among other things, the effort to practice strict economy and combat waste, that is, the policy of building up our country through diligence and frugality. The principle of diligence and frugality should be observed in everything. We say everything because it is not only through seminars, workshops and conferences that public funds are being wasted or stolen. There is also wastefulness and theft in public works and contracts. The same things happening over seminars, workshops and conferences in terms of overpricing, commissions or kickbacks are happening in most public works and contracts. Crooks of all hues are conniving with government officials to get contracts that are overpriced and share the spoils. A look at the schools that the government is today boasting about will reveal that the cost of their construction is far beyond what one would reasonably expect. A school that can be reasonably constructed at a cost of say K2 billion is costing the government in excess of K5 billion. Why? The simple answer is that those in charge of these projects and the friends they are engaging to build these schools are stealing from the government. Today Zambia pays more for a kilometre of tarred road than most countries on this continent. Why? Again, the answer is the same – they are stealing. Gravel roads are costing us too much to maintain. Why? The friends those in government are contracting to do these roads are stealing from the government and are sharing with them. Almost every government project in this country is a big scandal.

Even just a simple look at this Levy Junction NAPSA is today constructing, all those directly connected to it are today swimming in money and are either buying this or constructing that property or lodge. Where is the money coming from? They are not borrowing from banks and the personal projects they are undertaking are far beyond their earned incomes. This in itself is a prima facie case of corruption. Money does not grow on trees, it has to be gotten from something, either legitimately or illegitimately. When you ask them where the money is coming from, they will tell you it’s from travel allowances. If this was true, which we know it is not, there would still be a problem because it will be an indication that we are wasteful in terms of how much we are paying our civil servants and other public officers in travel allowances. Travel on public business should not be for making money. If this is the case, then there is wastefulness because all these people are paid a salary and there is no justification to spend so much money on them for them to bring back home and build lodges and other properties. This is a corrupt way of remunerating our civil servants and public officers. Even Frederick Chiluba boasted about how much money he was making from travel allowances. How can a president be paid travel allowances to bring back home and give his girlfriends in the way Chiluba was doing it? We say this because everything for the president is paid for and there is no need for him to be given cash. But this is the way the Zambian taxpayers’ money is being used to finance wastefulness and extravagance.

We should therefore advocate diligence and frugality and pay special attention to economy. Wherever we happen to be, we must take great care of public resources and must not take a short view and indulge in wastefulness and extravagance. Thrift should be the guiding principle in our government expenditure. It should be made clear to all government workers, including the president and his ministers, that corruption and waste are great crimes. We should take strong and resolute measures against anyone wasting public resources. We should oppose extravagance and pay a lot of attention to thrift and economy.