JB fires cabinet, Ifmis back November 1
Malawi President Joyce Banda on Thursday dissolved her Cabinet barely 24 hours after her return from the United States of America (USA) amid calls for her to fire some ministers in the wake of the cash-gate scandal.
The Capital Hill cash-gate scandal, which has seen some people arrested so far for being found in possession of millions of kwacha of public funds without supporting documents, has been widely blamed on weak controls in the Integrated Financial Management Information System (Ifmis), the computer software used in government payment system.
But donors have cautioned the Malawi Government against blaming “computers” for human errors that have led to a pilferage to unprecedented levels in Malawi’s public finance management scandals.
Banda’s dissolution of the Cabinet also came hours after the Cabinet meeting she announced at a press conference on Wednesday in Blantyre. She said she would hold a Cabinet meeting on Thursday to get a briefing on developments at home.
In a statement issued last evening, presidential press secretary Steven Nhlane said following the dismissal of the Cabinet, all ministerial matters will revert to the Presidency through controlling officers.
Said Nhlane: “Her Excellency Dr Joyce Banda, President of the Republic of Malawi, in exercise of the powers conferred upon her by Section 94 (1) and Section 95 (2) of the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi, has today, 10th October 2013, dissolved Cabinet.”
In a related development, the suspended Ifmis is scheduled to be in use by November 1 2013 when Malawi government hopes the cleanup exercise currently underway will have been completed, The Nation has established.
In a letter dated October 7 2013 addressed to all controlling officers and heads of department, Accountant General David Kandoje said: “The manual system will only be in use up to 31st October 2013.”
A week ago, Chief Secretary to the Government Hawa Ndilowe announced a five-week suspension of Ifmis, saying it was temporal and meant to seal loopholes.
She said: “We have suspended Ifmis to stop the bleeding that has led to public funds being stolen. We hope that by then, we will be able to detect all defects.”
In the letter titled ‘Suspension of Ifmis and temporal migration to manual payment system’, Kandoje has also outlined seven procedures for processing of manual payments.
Some of the procedures include that “all ministries, departments and agencies will be preparing manual payment vouchers at ministry level and submitting to Accountant General’s Department for cheque processing.”
Secondly, Kandoje said “the manual payment vouchers will have to be submitted to Accountant General’s Department with covering letter signed by the controlling officer.”
The third procedure, according to the letter, demands that “the manual payment vouchers be submitted to Accountant General’s Department on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays only.”
Meanwhile, government has indicated that a forensic audit would start soon to trace financial maladministration going back to when Ifmis started in 2005.
All these efforts come in the aftermath of the shooting of Ministry of Finance budget director Paul Mphwiyo which later led to revelations of public officers siphoning money by paying companies that never offered any services.
In a related development, Malawi’s development partners were meeting in Lilongwe the whole of yesterday. Details of the meeting are yet to emerge.
Congratulations to the Gov. for hiring external Auditors to look into the matter. All this is because we can’t trust ourselves which is sad indeed, and in this case its another big lose to the country and the tax payers money still goes, because the external Auditors have to be paid for the service, the transport and what have you. Congratulations to Amayi too, for the brave stand taken. My free suggestions: Amayi hire professionals for Ministerial post lather than pleasing party members who aren’t qualified for the jobs. Well I know some may say how are they going to fit in the Parliament ? No the minister will appear in the Parliament only when his turn to answer for the ministry comes, after that he goes for his normal work. 1: This would help other people to get employment rather than the same person getting salary as MP. and as Minister. If you look in most areas where the MP is a Minister, people don’t get what they deserve from their MP. because he is busy with national things than his area. Which I don’t think would be the same with professionals who aren’t MPs. they will be busy with the ministry only and no area. 2: They will accountable, because they the job. Other wise in other cases the juniors are taking advantage of their bosses ignorance in the field. One of my teachers said: Boys there is no favour in business. So Amayi take care of your work and don’t try to please some one who is going to get you blamed for his/her failure. A real man does the right thing because its right and pleasing to God, no matter what people say or write. This is just a free suggestion.