Parliament on Monday accused the Mines and Mining Development ministry of gross financial mismanagement.
He also accused the ministry of failure to abide by standard accounting procedures, amid reports that staff at the ministry once claimed $23 160 for working overtime to reconcile the 2009 accounts figures whose report was never made public.
Secretary for Mines Prince Mupazviriho admitted the anomaly when he appeared before the Public Accounts Committee chaired by Makoni West MP Webber Chinyadza. Mupazviriho told the committee the ministry had at times operated on manual systems following a breakdown in the Public Finance Management system.
“In 2009 we switched to dollarisation and that is the time when the longest period of breakdown was experienced. We have worked towards addressing those issues, and we have already completed reconciliations and as we speak we have also managed to train people in the office on the Public Finance Management system,” he said.
In the 2009 and 2010 audited accounts report, the Comptroller and Auditor General (C and AG) also disclosed that the ministry was not following accounting procedures as laid out under the Public Finance Management Act.
