House ‘softens’ AG appointment
Parliament on Friday passed the Audit (Amendment) Bill of 2022 which seeks to ‘soften’ provisions for the qualification of the appointment of Auditor General (AG).
Previously, the office-holder was required to have a practising certificate with Malawi Accountancy Board, a development that was widely viewed as restrictive to some potential candidates.
Presenting the Bill in the House on Friday, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Sosten Gwengwe informed members that with the amendment, the appointment of the AG has been aligned with qualifications of similar and related offices, namely Secretary to Treasury, Accountant General and comptroller of internal audit as prescribed in Sections 8, 11 and 17 of Public Finance Management Act.
Qualifications in the amended Bill include a master’s degree in accountancy, finance and related field, being a member of a professional accountancy organisation, a member of Malawi Accountancy Board backed with 15 years post auditing experience, five of which must be at senior management level and high moral and ethical character and integrity.
Said Gwengwe: “The Bill seeks the relevant appointment into the office of Auditor General as provided by the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi, which has remained vacant for a period of close to five years today.
“After approval and assenting of the Bill it is expected that the amended provisions will become effective immediately and should allow the recruitment of a substantive auditor general.”
In his contribution, Democratic Progressive Party spokesperson on finance Shadric Namalomba pointed out that the question remains whether the decisions by acting AGs were lawful.
He also urged government to recruit a person who is independent, able to safeguard public resources and not politically-affiliated to the ruling party.
Said Namalomba: “From 2020/21 accounts of Tonse Alliance administration have not been signed as audited and; therefore, such accounts did not come to this House. We hope that immediately after the recruitment, those accounts need to come to Parliament for scrutiny.”
According to him, the current government is rocked in several financial scandals and the new AG need to bring to book all people responsible for such dirty deals.
On his part, United Democratic Front spokesperson on finance Nedson Poya said the old legislation favoured people in the private sector who, however, were not willing to join the civil service because of low remuneration.
He, therefore, proposed a review of the salary for AG to make the office more attractive.
Parliament inserted the ‘valid practising licence’ requirement when it amended the Public Audit Act in 2018. Since then, government has not employed a permanent AG after the retirement of Stevenson Kamphasa that year.
Instead, there have been two acting AGs—Thomas Makiwa and the incumbent Rexie Chiluzi—both of whom did not possess operating licences at the time of their appointment.
The Public Accounts and Auditors Act stipulates that to qualify for an operating licence, a qualified accountant should, among others, have a minimum of three years of post-qualification experience in the office of a practising accountant in an audit firm. The person must also pass Malawi Taxation, Malawi Company Law and Audit Assurance examinations administered by the Malawi Accountants Board.
