FINANCE minister Patrick Chinamasa said on Monday the Ernest & Young (India) 2011 civil servants audit report recommendations were not implemented because the coalition government partners were fighting over the findings as some thought it was not complete.
by PAIDAMOYO MUZULU
The report — which was never made public, but leaked to the media — established that the government had irregularly employed 75 000 workers with the majority employed between March and June 2008. The majority of the “ghost workers” were recruited by the Ministry of Youth.
“The audit was not complete because of the political fighting then in the inclusive (coalition) government,” Chinamasa said.
The coalition government was set up in 2009 after the inconclusive presidential runoff of in June 2008 after main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out a week before polls citing violence and intimidation of his supporters. Sadc intervention resulted in the coalition government between Zanu PF and the two MDC formations.
Chinamasa added that the deteriorating economic conditions were forcing the government to take drastic action which among other things would include a civil service audit and the suspension of annual bonuses for the next two years starting this year.
“We have now started on another civil servant staff audit starting with the Ministry of Education which is the biggest employer and we will not hesitate to take bold decision,” he said.
The minister reiterated that 82% of all State revenue was going towards paying the government wage bill and this was unsustainable. He said the government was now looking at expanding the revenue base by helping informal businesses with potential to be formalised. “One approach that we are adopting is to identify champions in the informal sector and see if we can nurture them to access capital, skills and to formalise their operations,” Chinamasa said.
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