Chief secretary Under fire
Parliament has accused Chief Secretary to the Government George Mkondiwa of frustrating efforts to get to the bottom of audit reports by shielding former controlling officers from being summoned to respond to audit queries.
Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has since resolved that all former controlling officers should appear alongside their successors to respond to audit queries as one way of enhancing effectiveness of Parliament’s oversight function in providing sanction and recommendations.
The Attorney General, by extension, has allegedly stopped former Secretary to the Treasury (ST) and current Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism Joseph Mwanamveka from appearing before the committee to respond to audit queries which were discovered during his time, 2009 to 2011.
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But Mkondiwa has argued that the decision by the committee lacked legal and institutional basis.
He said he would be consulting the Clerk of Parliament on the way forward.
In an interview on Thursday, committee chairperson Alekeni Menyani said Attorney General Kalekeni Kaphale advised Mwanamvekha to ignore PAC summons to appear alongside the Secretary to Treasury and this has created a bad precedence.
Said Menyani: “Mr Mwanamvekha was ST at the material time and we wanted him to appear before the committee, but when Treasury sought a legal opinion it was skewed.
“Independent legal opinions, however, point to the fact that as a committee we have power to summon any public officer unless they are immune like in the case of the President’s office.
“I feel the Chief Secretary is defending principal secretaries whom we have surcharged and or acting in a distant and lukewarm relationship with the committee despite the fact that he is in charge of controlling officers and ought to be seen to be in control.”
He said the committee missed out on an opportunity to quiz Mwanamvekha on the over-expenditure during his reign, but only met the current ST Ronald Mangani.
The committee, with the help of the Auditor General, has since written the Chief Secretary reiterating its stand that former controlling officers should appear alongside current officers to respond to audit queries.
Of the former PSs summoned, only Fletcher Zenengeya, formerly PS in the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development has appeared before the committee as well as several former DCs.
Speaking in an interview on Thursday, Mkondiwa said the committee’s resolution was a new development which had implications on how his office would treat the former controlling officers.
He denied having knowledge of Mwanamvekha’s summoning by the committee.
Said Mkondiwa: “This is problematic in that I would not know whether the summons are a form of consultancy or what, in respect of those who have since retired from the public service.
“Who would foot the bill of taking them from their retirement village to Parliament? I want to understand these things and I am discussing with the Clerk of Parliament on the way forward.”
He explained that when controlling officers change, they submit handover notes which include the good and bad that occurred within the ministry and if current controlling officers could not adequately explain this, then there was a problem.
“If the nature of the query is criminal then law enforcers can effectively probe that but for Parliament to call me as a former PS, then that is problematic,” he said.
But Menyani insisted that the committee did not want to engage personalities and as long as the committee had enough reason to believe that you can give evidence, it can summon you to appear whether you are retired or not.
The audits in question cover the years 2009 to 2011. n
Mkondiwa must realise that controlling officers who fail(ed) to do their job (either the actual job-with potential for criminal probing or poor handing over) even after retiring will be required to account to the public for which they worked. This is the expectation of the public. This is so important considering that the auditor general takes time to do the audits and it is only justifiable that those who presided over a corrupt system must be held to account at the time of the release of audit reports. The only other option is to empower the auditor general so that his office can produce up to date audit reports. We the people want justice and it will come no matter who wants to block it!