Maravi

Remove PSs with bad track records, Simenda urges Levy

Remove PSs with bad track records, Simenda urges Levy
By Chibaula Silwamba and George Chellah
Friday April 20, 2007 [04:00]

Former chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Francis Simenda has urged President Levy Mwanawasa to remove all permanent secretaries with a track record of not accounting for public funds. And Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) president William Mweemba has called for the punishment of people involved in the K24 billion worth of expired drugs case at the Ministry of Health.

Commenting on the thefts and misappropriation of public funds in government ministries, departments and foreign missions as highlighted in the Auditor General's report through the PAC, Simenda said it was surprising that permanent secretaries such as Dr Simon Miti of the Ministry of Health had continued to appear before PAC since his Simenda's chairmanship.

Simenda, who served as PAC chairman for five years in the last Parliament, said this should not be allowed to continue.

"For me, I'm surprised that, when I read the Auditor General's report, the same controlling officers have continued appearing. The previous meeting we had they appeared and now they are still appearing. I think drastic measures should be taken,"
Simenda said. "Dr Miti appeared last year and the PAC requested that measures should be taken in his ministry to control the situation but nothing has happened. All controlling officers with a track record of not properly accounting for public funds in their ministries should be removed so that competent people come in to control."

Simenda said Zambia was losing a lot of money because the same controlling officers that have been failing to account for public funds in the previous years had continued serving.

"The only thing is to get rid of those controlling officers that fail to perform, and I have confidence that President Mwanawasa can do that," Simenda said.

He wondered why the controlling officers that had appeared for the last three years were still struggling to account for public funds to date.

"Last year, PAC recommended that action should be taken against them but nothing has been done to them," Simenda said.

He said although he could not say which permanent secretaries should be removed, the onus was on President Mwanawasa, as the appointing authority, to get rid of them to save billions of public funds.

"We are losing a lot of money that can go to national development. If you go through the report and add the amounts of money that is missing, you will see that a lot of billions have been lost. We desperately need this money to develop the country," Simenda said. "When I think about the billions that have been swindled, my heart breaks."

He said the Auditor General and her officers were doing a commendable job and should be supported by all. Simenda urged the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the police to attend the PAC sittings so that they start following up prosecutable cases.

"They should not wait until someone reports to them," he said. "In other countries, the police and ACC sit in as observers and when they are not satisfied with the response of the controlling officers they start investigating."

And Mweemba emphasized the need for accountability of public resources.

"If you are going to use the taxpayers' money, you should ensure that whatever you procure is in usable form and is distributed," Mweemba said. "People who are negligent should be taken to book. This K24 billion case... it should be thoroughly investigated, all those people who will be found wanting should be punished."

Mweemba said the rampant cases of abuse of public resources were disappointing.
"And one expects and hopes to see the measures that the government and the executive are going to take," Mweemba said. "This is one of the reasons why the civil society is insisting on a new constitution."

Mweemba said a new constitution would be a good basis for ensuring that accountability was enhanced.

"There are a lot of loopholes right now. This is just one of those things which shows why we need a new constitution because it would deal much more specific with all these issues," he said.

Labels: PAC, PERMANENT SECRETARIES, SIMON MITI

posted by MrK @ 11:40 AM