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(LUSAKATIMES) Stop financial rot – Chikwanda

Stop financial rot – Chikwanda
TIME PUBLISHED - Tuesday, November 29, 2011, 4:05 pm
Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda

FINANCE and National Planning Minister Alexander Chikwanda has called for an end to financial mismanagement in public institutions in Zambia.

Mr Chikwanda said some public institutions had been unable to deliver tangible benefits and dividends to shareholders and the people of Zambia because their lavish expenditure practices had depleted the resources required for expansion, growth and profitability of core ventures.

He said the monitoring and supervision of some statutory State-owned enterprises and public institutions had been loose, thereby rendering the whole system prone to abuse, poor governance and irrational application of invested resources.

Mr Chikwanda said this when members of the the Mwila Lumbwe commission of inquiry on operations of the Zambia National Building Society [ZNBS] paid a courtesy call on him at his office yesterday.

The minister said in a statement released by Ministry of Finance and National Planning public relations officer, Chileshe Kandeta that financial impropriety should be nipped in the bud for Zambia to develop.

Mr Chikwanda reiterated Government’s commitment to strengthening financial management and accountability in the entire public service so that incidences of impropriety, misappropriation or mismanagement of public resources reported by the Office of the Auditor General could be curtailed.

“I have a deep sense of admiration for the quality of professionals in various fields in Zambia. However, we need to get our act together by galvanising all relevant expertise in areas of need in order to improve monitoring and supervision of public institutions,” he said. Mr Chikwanda said this would in turn help to resolve the challenges confronting the performance, financial management and accountability of public institutions.

Later in the day, the commission questioned former ZNBS board chairperson Luambe Mondoloka on why the society failed to engage a transaction adviser prior to the US$98 million concession agreement with National Pensions Scheme Authority (NAPSA). Mr Mondoloka appeared before the commission of inquiry at Mulungushi International Conference Centre.

However, Mr Mondoloka explained that he had asked management to engage the services of a transaction adviser who would have taken on board the interests of the society, but that a consultant who looked at the proposal from NAPSA was instead engaged.

When asked whether the consultant who scrutinised the NAPSA proposal was single- sourced, Mr Mondoloka said he was not sure about the manner in which the consultant was engaged.

He also apologised before the commission for not dealing firmly with some of the issues concerning management at the time he served as board chairperson. Earlier, former Stanbic Bank Zambia managing director Joseph Chikolwa said the 20-year concession agreement was lopsided in favour of NAPSA.

Mr Chikolwa said it would have been important for a transaction adviser to be drawn from ZNBS because he would have protected the institution in terms of the agreement. He said the transaction adviser had a critical role as he was well placed to provide external advice to the society.

Mr Chikolwa said investment of $98m in the refurbishment of Society House and Central Arcades was not justifiable.

[Times of Zambia]

Labels: CORRUPTION

posted by MrK @ 7:35 PM