I didn’t rebuff PAC—Ndilowe

Chief Secretary to Malawi Government Hawa Ndilowe on Saturday said she did not rebuff the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament which failed to meet her on Friday over the looting of public funds and suspension of the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) at Capital Hill.

PAC also wanted her to provide answers to audit queries.

Speaking at a news conference in Lilongwe, Ndilowe said the first letter she received from Parliament on the PAC meeting only asked her to nominate a person to represent the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) at the meeting and that the second letter on the same meeting reached her late on Thursday.

“I did not refuse to appear before PAC. I have a lot of respect for PAC. There is no way I can just abscond. Their first letter asked us to provide an officer to appear before PAC,” said Ndilowe.

According to the first letter from the National Assembly dated September 13 2013 informing Ndilowe about the PAC meeting, the Chief Secretary was indeed asked to nominate an officer to attend the meeting.

“As you are aware, Madam, during such meetings, one officer from your office attends the meetings in order to guide the committee on the prevailing accounting policies and practices in the management of government resources. We would appreciate if you could nominate an officer to attend the committee’s meeting,” reads the letter signed by Henry Njolomole on behalf of the Clerk of Parliament.

The second letter dated October 3 2013 signed by PAC deputy chairperson Daveson Nyadani reads: “As indicated in the programme which was submitted to you, Madam, you are expected to appear before the committee tomorrow [Friday] morning at 9:15am to brief the committee on issues pertaining to the performance of controlling officers who appeared before the committee to respond to audit queries.

“On top of the issues attached hereto, the committee requests you, Madam, to brief it on two other separate matters: the real situation surrounding the financial management and the sabotage of IFMIS currently being reported in the media [and] the progress on reforms at the National Audit Office.”

In an interview on Saturday, Nyadani said Ndilowe should have communicated in writing to the committee that she would not attend the meeting and not send a verbal apology.

“Those invitations go to the office of the controlling officer and the committee took it that the Chief Secretary herself would appear. What also provoked the situation is the fact that she didn’t even write formally that she would not appear before the committee. Otherwise, there is precedence that the Deputy Chief Secretary has appeared before the committee before,” said Nyadani.

OPC delegated principal secretary for finance in OPC Joster Njanji, director of finance Jean Munyenyembe and Accountant General’s principal accountant Dorothy Machira to appear before the committee.

Njanji, who conveyed Ndilowe’s verbal apology, said the Chief Secretary failed to send a written apology to the committee because she got communication from Parliament about the meeting late afternoon on Thursday.