Britain urges Malawi to upgrade Ifmis

British High Commissioner Michael Nevin says much as it is important for government to migrate to new software of Ifmis, the current software should be upgraded and operators follow strict procurement and audit procedures.

Speaking in an interview in Lilongwe last week, Nevin said it will be good if government upgraded the software currently in use and in the long-run acquire a new one, but this is only part of the answer to the problem.

“Ifmis [Integrated Financial Management Information System] does need to be upgraded and government needs to migrate to new software but this is part of the answer to the problem. What needs to be done is to enforce discipline in the financial management systems so that people operating the software follow proper checks and balances on issues to with procurement,” he said.

Nevin said Britain was happy that even Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Goodall Gondwe has admitted that those manning and operating Ifmis should be disciplined and follow procurement, expenditure and audit procedures.

“The urgent need is to ensure that the current system is upgraded to be secure when doing any transaction. If this is done coupled with discipline by the civil servants operating the software then things will be moving in the right direction,” he said.

Nevin, however, could not commit as to when his government will resume budget support to the country, saying Britain is already giving Malawi a lot of money through other channels.

“We are continuing giving aid to   Malawi but not through government systems. The background is that budget support stopped in 2011, but Malawi is still getting a lot of money sometimes over $1 billion from various donors,” he said.

Gondwe last week said government is planning to procure new software to replace the one currently in use because it does not want to sustain Cashgate—the looting of public funds at Capital Hill.

Said Gondwe: “We are quite surprised to hear that we are clinging to the (Epicol 7.3) software. We have to tender so that people should apply and no decision has been made yet.

“We do not want to sustain Cashgate and we are working day and night to seal all loopholes.” n