MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND MEDIA DIRECTOR SPOKESPERSON SCHOOLS OPPOSITION
November 18, 2022 – Lusaka
By Ubuyantanshi Reporter
Ministry of information and Media Director Spokesperson Thabo Kawana today provided free but vital lecture notes to opposition political parties on the Auditor General’s decision to contract private firms to audit government ministries and parastatals.
Speaking this afternoon when he addressed members of the press at the ministry headquarters, Mr Kawana said that what the private firms are doing is not an outright overall audit but an exclusive verification exercise of an overall domestic debt which sharply rose from K51.82 billion in 2016 to K76.4 billion in 2022 as of June.
Mr Kawana informed the opposition parties that just like other multilateral organizations like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had to verify the authenticity of Zambia’s external debt before coming to support the country’s local economic recovery programme, the government too has an obligation to verify the huge local debt bill especially after finding pockets of fake supply in ministries.
The Ministry’s Director Spokesperson said there is nothing suspicious as the verification is being done across all ministries, parastatals and government spending agencies hence the Auditor General’s office being overwhelmed with work.
Mr Kawana pointed out that the overwhelming task of verification prompted the Auditor General to write to the Minister of Finance and National Planning seeking permission in accordance with the law and powers vested in the office of the Auditor General to seek external hands to assist the office.
Mr Kawana made it clear that the 6 private auditing firms were contracted in accordance with the law and after satisfying all procedures to verify specific issues.
On security concerns raised by opposition political parties especially in the Ministry of Defence, Mr Kawana said that the files being verified are on specifics and are looking at goods and services. He further elaborated that the files are being given to the auditors by the Ministry staff.
Mr Kawana assured Zambians that the private auditing firms are not looking at sensitive information. “They are not looking at how many guns we have as a country, how many bullets we have, how many tankers we have as a country”, he said.
And Mr Kawana said there is no law that has been contravened as contained in the constitution and as it relates to the office of the Auditor General. He rubbished plans by the opposition political parties to impeach President Hakainde Hichilema based on the private auditing firms contracted as there is no abrogation of the constitution.
Mr Kawana said that long gone are the days when people supplied air and cashed out money. “If you supplied the government air, you will be paid air, you will get nothing”, he said.
Credit : Ubuyantanshi