×
NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

Parly must act on audit report

Columnists
As has become the norm, the Auditor-General has just tabled her latest report in Parliament that reveals rampant mismanagement and abuse of public funds in ministries and public enterprises.

As has become the norm, the Auditor-General has just tabled her latest report in Parliament that reveals rampant mismanagement and abuse of public funds in ministries and public enterprises.

The key findings include outright theft, payments that are not supported by invoices and receipts from service providers, absence or lack of updated asset registers, absence of audit committees and risk management policies as required by the Public Finance Management Act, weak debt recovery systems, flouting of procurement regulations, payment of ghost workers, among others.

Most of these findings for the year ended December 31, 2014 are not new. They have been the same for the past decade or so.

“Audit revealed that most of the ministries were not taking corrective action on the issues of irregularities raised in prior year audits hence some of the weaknesses remained unresolved or were recurring yearly,” the Auditor-General Mildred Chiri pointed out in her report.

This is unacceptable in a country facing a severely constrained fiscal space and economic meltdown such as Zimbabwe. The best that we should be doing is to manage the limited funds available in an efficient and effective manner.

If the same findings recur every year it basically means Parliament is not doing the job that it is mandated by the Constitution. Section 299 requires Parliament to monitor and oversee expenditure by the State and all commissions and institutions and agencies of government at every level, including statutory bodies, government-controlled entities, and provincial and metropolitan councils and local authorities. Such monitoring must ensure that all revenue is accounted for, all expenditure has been properly incurred and any limits and conditions on appropriations have been observed.

Parliament carries out such monitoring or oversight through the portfolio committee system. The standing rules and orders of Parliament outline the functions and powers of portfolio committees. They include summoning any person to appear before committees to give evidence on oath or affirmation; summoning any person to appear before committees to produce any documents required; receiving representations from interested parties; and exercising such other powers as may be prescribed, or assigned to the committees by any law, the rules or resolutions of the House.

These are extensive powers that the committees should exercise in order to ensure ministries, public enterprises and local authorities implement the Auditor-General’s recommendations. They should demand status reports on the implementation of recommendations because the rules empower them to make such demands.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is the parliamentary committee with a statutory mandate to review the Auditor General’s reports and report to Parliament. The committee must therefore take a more leadership role in the enforcement of the Auditor-General’s recommendations.

Water minister Saviour Kasukuwere has a laugh during the opening of parliament.
Water minister Saviour Kasukuwere has a laugh during the opening of parliament.

The PAC should establish a follow-up schedule after the report has been tabled. A follow-up letter should be sent to government departments and entities audited asking for a progress report on the implementation of recommendations. The committee will then review the report and table its own report for debate in the house.

The rules of Parliament require that the minister respond to the committee report within 10 sitting days. A minister can be in contempt of Parliament if he/she fails to do so. The response should therefore outline measures that the ministry has taken to implement the Auditor General’s recommendations. The committee will then follow-up on the commitments that the ministry officials would have made under oath.

The PAC should insist on the preparation of action plans by ministries and departments to be used to monitor and report on implementation. The action plans must include targeted dates for implementing the action plans.

Experiences elsewhere are telling. In Ghana, the evolution of proceedings of the PAC to a point where they opened up committee proceedings to the public has significantly boosted Parliament’s effort to promote accountability, combat corruption, strengthen budgetary oversight and improve resource allocation. The PAC in Ghana has a steering committee to specifically identify recommendations not implemented. The committee report to the House includes status of implementation of the previous committee report. After adoption by House, the committee will write to responsible ministries to implement the recommendations.

The Kenya National Assembly has established a Committee on Implementation. Its mandate includes scrutiny of resolutions of the House including adopted committee reports, petitions and the undertakings given by the government on the floor of the House. The committee will examine whether or not such decisions and undertakings have been implemented, the extent to which they have been implemented, and whether such implementation has taken place within the minimum time necessary. It also looks at whether or not legislation passed by the House has been operationalised, the extent to which such operationalisation has taken place and within the required time. The committee is further mandated to propose sanctions to the House on any minister who fails to implement resolutions of the House.

The Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) in Zimbabwe has provisions for penalties and sanctions that can be imposed for the abuse of public funds. Section 87 deals with disciplinary procedures, while section 91 outlines offences and penalties which can see someone being imprisoned for a period not exceeding five years for mismanaging public funds. The parliamentary committees should recommend these specific penalties in their reports rather than make general recommendations.

One of the main reasons for the financial rot in government enterprises is that most of their senior management have overstayed. Parliament must implement section 197 of the Constitution which says an Act of Parliament may limit the terms of office of chief executive officers or heads of government-controlled entities and other commercial entities and public enterprises owned or wholly controlled by the State.

In conclusion, the Constitution, the Privileges Immunities and Powers of Parliament Act and the Standing Rules and Orders confer the necessary powers to Parliament to enforce implementation of Auditor-General recommendations. Parliament should exercise these powers and put a stop to the culture of impunity in the manner in which scarce public resources are being abused.

l John Makamure is the Executive Director of the Southern African Parliamentary Support Trust. Feedback: [email protected]