By DELPHINE ZULU –
TRANSPARENCY International Zambia (TIZ) has called on President Edgar Lungu to take swift and drastic action against Parastatal heads that are not performing and accounting for public funds.
TIZ also urged Chief Executive Officers to take clear action on all erring officers who have not accounted for public funds.
TIZ Executive Director Goodwell Lungu said it was worrying that the country had continued to lose huge sums of money.
“We therefore call on the Republican President His Excellency
Mr Lungu to consider taking drastic actions against all
parastatal heads that are not performing and accounting for public
(resources). It is not enough to continue paying lip service when huge public funds are being lost,” Mr Lungu said.
TIZ strongly recommended outright dismissal of Chief Executive Officers whose parastatal companies had allowed such irregularities to be perpetuated and that law enforcement agencies should swiftly deal with all culprits cited in the Auditor General’s report.
Mr Lungu said the levels of unaccounted funds and financial mismanagement of public funds revealed in the latest audit report clearly showed that there was no adherence to financial procedures in some organisations.
“TIZ is particularly dismayed with the levels of unaccounted for and financial mismanagement of public funds from the just released Auditor General Report on Parastatals for 2013 which has clearly irregularities outlined coming from some parastatal companies and other statutory bodies,” he said.
The Auditor General’s report revealed an overall tone of poor financial and operational performance in most of the audited entities.
The report highlights some financial and other irregularities with the highest being non-remittance of statutory contributions at K142, 500,901 followed by inadequately supported payments at K6, 479,256.
Unretired imprest stood at K3,892,884 while unaccounted for funds were at K997,261, adding that irregular payments and wasteful expenditure ranked the lowest at K156,611 and K26,100, respectively.
