MOF AUDIT TARGETING SICHEMBE…sorry Dick, you’re on your way out – Kafwaya
By Kombe Chimpinde Mataka
LUNTE PF member of parliament Mutotwe Kafwaya charges that the financial audit at the Ministry of Finance is targeted at removing Auditor General Dick Sichembe.
Kafwaya told The Mast that now the government was relying on an ‘illegal’ special audit report to purge unwanted staff from the Ministry of Finance and National Planning.
“The internal audit function of government is subject to the direction of the Secretary to Treasury. Was this report sent to the ST? No. But it was just sent to some PS (permanent secretary) whose position is not even mentioned in the public finance management Act. Why? Because (former secretary to treasury Fredson) Yamba was a target too, who among them Dick Sichembe and others needed to be punished,” Kafwaya alleged.
“Dr Dick Sichembe needed to be punished because he was appointed Auditor General from the accounting function of government. Fredson Yamba needed to be punished because he was assumed to have had supported Dick’s appointment as Auditor General. Remember Anna Chifungula came from the Office of the Controller of Internal Audit though this was not a legal requirement. Others were just common enemies. What is worrying politically is that a spouse of one of the people pushing this audit is linked with UPND including TI-Z (Transparency International Zambia).
Now the tribal hegemony extending to State House staff is jumping higher to fix. How I wish all of us could just be professional. Our country will be a better place. Can you imagine that such an unethical individual is being lined up to take over as Auditor General? A person who is capable of undertaking an illegal audit to fix his/her friends over allowances which she/he also got but removed them from the report. Deplorable!”
Kafwaya said he feared if the country would ever receive free and fair view opinions of financial, operational and governance performance of government with an unethical individual as Auditor General.
“For government, Dr Dick Sichembe you are the ultimate target. As I said, government is worried about its poor performance, increasing maladministration and corruption. And government is desperate to install an unethical Auditor General who can easily compromise on audit opinions to make user friendly revelations. Sorry Dick, I have to remind you that you are on your way out to pave way for this unethical individual,” he said. “After illegally subcontracting Grant Thornton and other audit firms to undertake audits in government including defence forces, now government is relying on an illegal so-called special audit report to purge unwanted staff from Ministry of Finance and National Planning.”
Kafwaya said government actions should be based on law and not emotions.
“Government does not operate on the basis of hate, but on the basis of the law. I challenge Ministry of Finance and National Planning to demonstrate that in accordance with the provisions of section 14 of the public finance management Act of 2018, the Secretary to the Treasury did sanction this audit activity,” he said. “I dare say this audit had no authority. It was illegal. The officer(s) who undertook this audit should be put to task for wasting tax payers money on an illegal activity. All actions of government workers must have authority. Can you imagine that those who undertook this illegal special audit on allowances highlighted those allowances obtained by their colleagues who were considered enemies and removed their own allowances? What unethical behaviour! Filthy and unprofessional.”
Kafwaya said the government should eliminate “its love for illegal audit”.
“All audits in government are provided for by law. The so-called special audit should be discarded and those who undertook it made to pay for acting outside of the law,” argued Kafwaya. “Transferring staff out of a ministry on the basis of investigations is not provided for by law or any procedures of government. Remember that accountant who is accused of being the owner of 48 houses, he was not transferred out of MoFND (Ministry of Finance and National Planning and development for those alleged offences.”
The ACC, recently, informed The Mast ofongoing investigations into financial scandal at the Ministry of Finance.
“Yes, investigations are ongoing into this Ministry of Finance matter. But that is what I can say for now. I cannot go further other than to confirm that we are still investigating this matter,” said Anti-Corruption Commission director general Tom Shamakamba.
New information emerged that more than K1 billion has been looted at the Ministry of Finance between 2019 and 2022, double
what the investigation last established.
On January 7, 2023, The Mast published a story in which new information had emerged which revealed that about K533 million
was looted from the Ministry of Finance and not K100 million as earlier reported by the same newspaper in August 2022.
On August 24, 2022, The Mast published a story where a Transparency International Zambia investigation revealed that a cartel at Ministry of Finance (MoF) siphoned money amounting to K100 million between 2019 and
2021 using fictitious events to draw allowances.