Parliamentary committee on Public Accounts will next month present its first report of its findings on the state of financial affairs in the public sector with preliminary findings already pointing to a potential mismanagement of public funds, 263ChatBusiness has established.
The committee has been holding public meetings, scrutinizing top officials from various state entities in recent months.
Speaking at the third Zimbabwe IPSAS meeting, the chairman of the Public Accounts committee, Honourable Tendai Biti said the report will be out in May.
“We will be presenting our first report of the Public Accounts Committee in May. This will focus on the Ministry of Finance and the sinners are here, George (permanent secretary) and the Accountant General. The regrettable thing about our report is that the Ministry of Finance is the most qualified ministry, so we hope that our report will shade light on the things that we want to see complied,” said Biti.
As preludes to the document, Biti said there are shocking revelations of mismanagement of public funds in state entities like ZINARA, RBZ amongst others particularly with regard to compliance to the Constitution.
He said the Central Bank was out of bounce over debt contraction without Parliamentary approval at the same time overstepping mandate by conducting quasi-fiscal activities and constant overdrafts to government.
‘What is amazing in the report is of course the non-compliance particularly on debt contraction. So debt has been contracted in Zimbabwe oblivious to the provisions of Section 327 of the Constitution that requires Parliamentary approval and the Constitution is very clear as it says any agreement has to be signed by the President, has to be approved by Parliament, if it’s not approved by Parliament is null and void,”
“Our second report is going to focus on the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in particular, the creature called the Zimbabwe Asset Management Company, in particular the quasi-fiscal activities, in particular, the government overdraft that is being run at the Central Bank. Does it comply with statutory limits, that it can’t be more than 20 percent of the previous year’s revenue? The issue of the foreign exchange, the legality of the export surrender requirement,” added Biti.
The Zimbabwe Assets Management Company has also been brought under spotlight for its role in assuming Non-Preforming Loans which has been castigated for its illegality as it uses public funds to pay for debts of certain known individuals who would have taken the loans without repaying.
The report is expected to also focus of local and rural authorities’ public accounts with the hope to sanitize the rot that has characterized most public institutions.
