Mutharika commits to public finance reforms
Malawi president Peter Mutharika today [Friday] outlined actions which his government is expected to take to ensure compliance with Public Financial Management Reforms in order for the country to avoid another Cashgate.
Speaking to a cross-section of senior civil servants and the donor community at State House in Lilongwe, Mutharika said the reforms, among others, include the reformation and revitalisation of Central Internal Auditing Service as a government compliance tool.
“To begin with, we will introduce qualified internal auditors from private firms in 10 large ministries to train official internal auditors and establish proper internal auditing practice,” said Mutharika.
“To avoid the likely personnel familiarisation between the accounting staff and internal auditors, the latter will rotate every six months,” he added.
Mutharika said that accounting staff would routinely be obliged to attend refresher courses at the Malawi Institute of Management (MIM) in order for them to comply with the financial laws, rules and regulations.
These trainings would be attended by staff at various levels in the civil service for them to be conversant with financial procedures, rules and regulations that are expected to guide them in the conduct of their work.
The training, Mutharika explained, would also include a course on ethics so as to reorienting the mind-set of participants on some issues such as the proper use of Integrated Financial Management Systems (Ifmis).
“Senior staff, including controlling officers (Principal Secretaries) and directors of finance, will be expected to attend workshops and refresher courses very soon to remind them of what is expected of them,” he said.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) resident representative, Geoffrey Oestreicher, described the action plan as a strong commitment to public management and is looking forward to its implementation.
“This is an appropriate response to concerns of Public Finance Management and if properly implemented they can address the concerns that are there about PFM,” Oestreicher said.
