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More funds misappropriated at Ministry of works and Supply, Ministry of Local Government and Zambia Police

By editor
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Auditor-General, Anna Chifungula

Ministry of Works and Supply

Auditor General Anna Chifungula has disclosed over K12 billion was misapplied at the Ministry of Works and Supply on the completion of Chirundu Border Facilities and the rehabilitation of the Independence Stadium.

According to her report for the financial year ended 2008, the Ministry received a total of K15,000,000,000 and only K2,927,701,781 was spent on redesigning of the stadium while K12,072,298,219 was used for the border facilities.

The report has revealed that as at June 2009 works on the rehabilitation of the stadium had stalled.

Report has also exposed that out of a total K7 billion budgeted and released for a project, an amount of K440,828,830 was incurred leaving a balance of over 2 billion which was not utilized on the project despite two (2) interim payment certificates totaling K748,604,966 being issued in favour of the contractor.

However, the contractor was paid K383, 133,650 in March 2009 from the 2009 allocation.

On the missing payment vouchers the report has revealed that there were payments amounting to K457,063,500 involving thirteen(13) transaction in 2007 and K23,188,765 involving (4) transaction in 2008 which were not vouched and were either missing or lacked supporting documents such as receipts, local purchase orders and quotations among others.

Financial irregularities at the same Ministry were also recorded in the management of fuel, unaccounted for stores and unretired imprest.

Report states that during the year under review there were no receipts and disposal details about the procurement of fuel costing K1, 387,500,000 involving thirty (30) transactions and a further over K 70 billion involving 6 transaction procurements for stores was not accounted for.

The report further reveals that over K6 billion was also misapplied in unretired imprest involving one hundred and thirty seven (137) transactions paid to various officers in 2007 and 35 transactions in 2008 respectively.

Ministry of Local Government and Housing

The Auditor General’s (AG’s) report for the financial year ended 2008 has revealed that about K1, 553,928,015 meant for grants to local authorities were misapplied at the Ministry of Local Government and Housing headquarters.

According to the report, the misapplied funds were on unrelated activities such as payment of members’ subscription fees to ACCA and CIMA, and printing of Christmas cards among others.

Responding to the misapplication of funds on September 29, 2009, the then ministry’s Controlling Officer stated that most payments were related to general grants and House of Chiefs activities.

However, it was noted that the House of Chiefs had their own budget line and therefore the propriety of making payment from the general grant was questionable.

The AG’s report also revealed that the ministry misapplied a total of K14, 920,000,000 on the procurement of one hundred hearses out of the total amount of K50 billion provided for recurrent grants to local authorities.

Zambia Police

The Zambia Police Service entered into contractual obligations amounting to K6,765,654,320 for the procurement of motor vehicles for the service disregarding a budget provision of K2,990,000,000.

This has resulted in an over commitment of K3,775,654,320 as has been revealed in the Auditor General’s (AG’s) report for the financial year ended 2008.

The controlling officer for the service stated in her response that the over commitment would be taken care of since the department had a three year budget plan framework called MTEF.

However, in their minutes of October 27, 2008, the central tender committee advised that it was a misdirection to commit next year’s budget to current procurements.

The AG’s report also revealed that although a total amount of K2, 990,000,000 was released, the service made payments in amounts totaling K3, 477,902,208, resulting in excess expenditure of K487, 902,208.

In explaining the excess expenditure, the controlling officer stated that the additional funds were obtained from Appropriation-In-Aid which was brought forward from the previous year.

The AG’s report however states that, the explanation was not satisfactory as Appropriation-In-Aid is meant for a particular financial year and can therefore not be carried forward to another financial year.

The report states that all unspent funds are supposed to be surrendered to the treasury at the end of each financial year.

ZANIS

editor
editorhttp://www.lusakatimes.com

53 COMMENTS

  1. uluse pa zambia iye, shonshe isho impanguli misapplied? why doesnt this office have powers to prosecute than just ukula twimya imitima ati shaliluba indalama?
    even mulongotis ministry is in scandals, mmmmmmmmmmmmh aka kamuntu kaladuma nakena kanshi

  3. The Auditor General’s (AG’s) report for the financial year ended 2008 has revealed that about K1, 553,928,015 meant for grants to local authorities were misapplied at the Ministry of Local Government and Housing headquarters.

    For all those not believing us when we say this Government does not release money to our councils to fix the drainage system in Lusaka, there is the evidence for. The Local goverment was busy using councils money to pay for ” ACCA and CIMA, and printing of Christmas cards among others.” .

    I guess ACCA & CIMA fees are ensure that these accounts learn new methods of how to steal public funds and remain undetected. Anyway we shall see what RB does. We are watching

    @-) @-) @-) @-) @-) @-) @-) @-) @-)

  5. No reason for a country with such amounts of money to have high levels of poverty. The AG’s report is testimony to lack of heart for the suffering masses by the ruling class. What a shame!! When HH says this country has enough money to put all the children in school free of charge the Govt and some of you bloggers ask “where is he going to get the money?” and when he says the UPND will raise minimum wage to K1.5 million people criticize and say thats unrealistic. With all these monies and priority planning all that the UPND president dreams about can be and is without doubt attainable. Lets give HH a chance people and not not crucify him from mere speculation by those who feel inferior to his intelligence and hard work. Youths and mothers must rise to redeem Zambia.
    HH 2011 period!!!

  6. So,after these reports are submitted whats the next course of action,does the AG recommend what needs to be done or its just another report that goes into the archives

  7. The missaplication of public funds in the public sector is frightening. There is no way Zambia will move foward from being a Least developed Country (LDC) to a developed country if the systematic stealing of public funds contnue unabated. This means that there shall be less development in the country and Zambia shall continue to face the problems of underdevelopment. Its means more roads with pot holes, less medicines in hospitals more poverty levels and continued unemployment etc. Whats is the way foward?

  9. with elections on the way, expect more misappropriations. these monies go to election buying and other fraudulent activities favouring the ruling party during by-elections and general elections. there is no will whatsoever on their part to recover the monies because they know only too well how they disapeared. they present a national budget which they dont implement because they make directives to PSs to release funds for party activities. if pushed PSs may spill the beans so nothing is done. they have an obligation to account for their expenditures or else i see more immunities lifted and former heads of state and government agencies prosecuted in the near future. former heads of armed forces can attest to the rewards of office abuse even if the party sent you.

  10. Ba kakeni ba mpumpwe. Thieving should not be a way of life! Cage the lazo’s! Or we will cage them after 2011, esp RB Mulongoti and the gang.

  11. Surely, we have been talking about misapplication now for sometime could controlling officers lead what is involved, am sick and tired.

  12. The problem with the system of making reports to PAC of parliament is that it rarely goes anywhere from there. Parliament simply listens to these reports and that’s it. The executive won’t do anything because they are the culprits. The constitution must give parliament teeth like here in the U.S. If proceedings of senate hearings lead to revelations bordering on criminal activity tha culprits are going to jail. No jokes.

  14. To be honest i no longer have any hope in our leaders…….not even in the PACT…this is the most dishonest generation Zambia has ever had from the time she was born…its so painful……..

  15. We must have faith in our systems, where they fail we must strenghten them. PAC is like a club where Controlling Officers are given a dress down by the MPs, after that humiliation, they go back and sit and wait for one year. Therein lies the weakness, there must be consistent reviews during the year.Going forward, we must see a more emphatic role by the Anti Corruption Commission through its’ Serious Fraud Unit. More prosecutions will act as a deterent to would-be abusers. In the meantime we must remember that Former IG Mateyo is trouble because of the AG’ s report. Clever Silavwe went to jail because of findings by Auditors.

  16. Come on Annie,that report has become a ritual now .Since 2002 the same song and nothing is being done so what the heck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:-w:-w:-w:-w

  17. But want is happening in this country. So even this nobody will be held accountable. Please arrest and charge them including the ministers if they are involved. Please God help us.

  18. #,6 You are right. That is my biggest question as well. Is it just mere information or it is information that must provoke a specific course of action?

  21. !4 pliz, like mandela (watch invictus the movie). Never lose hope. Z has a greater future. Having a few revelations is not an indication of low levels of corruption neither is having huge revelations. The revelation is an opportunity for us to strengthen the system were leakages are. Weaknesses must be strengthened, then will have what we want. Lets get politics out of this and provide solutions. We need each other. Politicians want political capital. Z we need each other. More support is needed to be given to the AGs office including the lowly paid ZP,and DEC. Funding should not only go to ACC. DEC prevents crimes. ACC acts after the crime. (Check history). Never give on Z.

  22. The controllers of all financial activities in the ministries are the Permanent Secretaries. The diplomatic missions finances are also controlled by the Perm Sec at the Foreign Affairs ministry. Here are possible solutions to these problems:
    1. Perm Secs should not be political appointments but civil service appointments through competative interviews. Otherwise, President may nominate the candidates for short list.
    2. There should be a Senior Civil service Appointments committee set up to interview all such appointees. This committee should comprise different persons at any time but from interested stake holders in that ministry.
    3. All imprest should be paid only on production of receipts. To be continued…

  23. So what Anna why don’t you prosecute the thieves, we now all know who the thieves are but year in year out all you do is announce thefts, what has been done since you last released such a similar report!? Or is it why your picture looks like you are crying coz even if you announce thefts nothing is done?:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((:((

  24. Greetings bloggers

    Ala bane ba Veteran, ba Capitalist and all those Mudididi cronnies and spin doctors. Whats your take on this?

    It is very evident that your gabamenti is STEALING (thats the Word – stealing) and in some cases dont know how to manage the money. How can you trust such a govt which is full of kleptomanics, schemers, liars, crooks and incurably greedy leaders? They don’t even give a sh.it about being accountable to citizens.

    Twalema mwee. Away with Ba Mwadya Mweka Daddy.

  27. Welcome to Zambia, a country that encourages stealing. FTJ ‘s seed is working and no one will destroy it. Where are Tourist Banda? Are you on your usual tours?

  28. After the Audit report has been presented what is suppose to happen. When the AG has finalised the audit report who does she give? Does the recipient of this report have powers to discpline [basically commence court proceedings, cos this is theft] the offenders? If the answer is yes way doesnt he/she do anything? Why is he/she silent over such wastage of billions of ZMK??

  30. This is sickening, I feel like I am gonna puke. In China, these are the kind of things government officials get shot for and we still wonder why they are developing so fast while we are taking equally faster steps backwards. Sometimes I honestly wonder why my people are so stupid, are they on drugs to be so inert in the face of being plundered or its just a national endowment of S.T.U.P.I.D.I.T.Y. given by God? In other countries, Local Government Minister Mulongoti, the dead Satamashimba of Local Government and that gorilla at Force HQ would be in the dock by now. Satamashimba especially would not have been allowed to die of “amalwele a kuiletelela”, the state should have killed him earlier.

  31. Who will prosecute the thieves if the police are the one’s in the fore front of stealing!? I think some of these things only happen in Zambia and where the heck is the moral uprightness and the nobility to resign from public office if you are faced with such-strongly-talked-about-but-not-going-anywhere-cases!?What have we done to the world? look at what we’ve done!?RB what about all the things you said we were to gain? OK apa manje Abash MMD viva PF/UPND Pact nabeve ti baeseko! after them ni military rule chabe!

  33. Now Bwezani is promising Luapulan chiefs that if they vote for him, he will show appreciation by appointing Testicles Mwansa as VP. Bwezani sure, “kwati kaiche”, every chief he is seeing its vote Bwezani and the VP is yours. This man has given these chiefs so much pomposity and this will be a big problem for the next CEO of Zambia to reign them in! Everywhere he goes, his statements are laced with tribal vernom. You cannot run a country this way and still hope to keep the unitary central axis holding firm. And we all know how tribal Zambian politics is, put in his position, I will select someone from either North-Western or Barotseland because all others will have their own sons running and it will take a biblical miracle for them to elect Banda over their own.

  34. Senior Citizen, can you now use your little brain to see why there are floods in lusaka?Please don’t waste taxpayers money by just blogging without thinking.Money was wasted printing xmas cards.This happened on the late ass licker Tetamashimba’s watch who left a chunk of his estate to Bwezani’s son in his will.I am now starting to believe the opposition that Bwezani is corrupt to the core.It’s unfortunate that brilliant chaps such as Hon. Musokotwane, Namugala ,Machila, Mutati must be frustrated to work under such a man.The buck in this case stops at the President.I am sure ass lickers like Patriot will see this as development in his little brain.Accountability and Resposibity are important and I am sure Bwezani has no such words in his vocabulary.No wonder he never made it as a com…

  35. YOU CAN’T HAVE MULONGOTI AS MINISTER OF WORKS AND WHATEVER AND EXPECT NO STEALING OF PUBLIC FUNDS. ALL THE MONIES GO TO MMD CAMPAIGNS AND BRIBING VOTERS, LAVISH BASHES AT PLOT ONE, ETC.

  36. #7 Chibi ku Bantu, I completely agree with you.You are very sober minded. As things stand,the life expectancy of Zambia is 40, Afghanistan 51 and Zimbabwe is 39(check CIA Website on country Profiles to verify this) 20% of Zambians have access to electricity while 30.4% of Afghans have access to electricity.There’s violence in Afghanstan but zambia is peaceful.Remember, Zambia is not a developing Country/emerging markrt country but LDC(Least Developed Country)In the eyes of ass lickers like Patior, Snr citizen etc, this is indeed very good development by RB.I really don’t care who rules Zambia next as long as he has Vision, Commitment, Seriousness and Honesty.Dora Siliya is busy asking banks to give loans to Teachers knowing fully well that their net pay is less than$160
    …

  37. The headline says “More funds misappropriated at Ministry of works and Supply, Ministry of Local Government and Zambia Police”. Not any where has the report indicated that the money has been stolen. The closest the AG has indicated is misapplication! Misapplication simply means that the money was used for something that was not budgeted for. All the Ministries or Spending Agencies do at the endof the year is to vary the funds! What causes some of these mispplications is actually the inadequate funding or no funding at all, and the these politicians come and stand and coherse the PS to effect payment. regardless of whether the activity was budgeted for or not! All these guys look at is the balance in the bank, regardless of the vote! The role of the AGs office is basically to ensure that

  38. 37 Rich Civil Servant. educate us on the meaning of terms like unaccounted, unreturned imprest and tell us how the projects like independence stadium and others are going to be completed if money budgeted for them is diverted. What’s the budget for? What are financial laws for? And why why is there misappropriation of this magnitude? Doesn’t this indicate the total collapse of the system?

  39. Strengthen systems. Make Auditor’s office a court. This has been implemented in a number of francophone countries with spectacular results.

  40. The statement does not paint the true picture to the people of Zambia. It should read “MORE FUNDS STOLEN AT MINISTRY OF WORKS AND SUPPLY … Mis appropriation does not evoke emotions and sounds like it was a mistake. The same way they sensationalized the Kapoko (MoH) issue should be done to all these thefts that have happened in these other Ministries and Foreign Service offices. When you say unaccounted for, it sounds like money was used appropriately but they lost receipts. No. The money was stolen, period.

  41. Iyo pa Zed paliba impupu!!

    That`s why we need a constitution that will ensure total autonomy of the judiciary and law enforcement agencies…so that they can initiate the prosecutions on their own without waiting for a cue from some master!

    I cant believe all this thieving!It`s pathetic!And u know what`s worse?People will just read about it..and forget!Next budget the thieving will skyrocket,same routine,no prosecutions.Because eventually the real thieves are in charge .What a mess!

  42. Senior citizen and Capitalist have gone into hiding. They have disappeared when we need their views on AG report, shame!!!!!!

  43. #38 Plot One,nice one,seems rich civil servant didnt read the article and just jumped into conclusion thinking we wont see through his lies Kaaaaabbbbooooom,red card

  44. No 38 is very right. Bloggers we should understand the terms misapplication and misappropriation. These two terms actully does not mean money was stolen NO. Money was either not budgeted for in the yellow book or a particular vote or account has gobbled more than its budget. At the end of a particular financial year the controlling officer then has to apply for a variation which is allowed by law anyway – to back a paticular expenditure. Lets differenciate the two from stealing or we end up misleading those who do not appreciated the two terms.

  45. This is Zambia THE REAL AFRICA. Come to Zambia if want to know Africa.
    We have everything
    1 … Plunderers
    2 … The rich
    3 … The Poor
    4 … Drainage and sanitation scandles
    5 …. Poverty
    6 …. High cost of living
    7 …. Poor standards of living
    8 … 99% Gap between the poor and the rich
    9 … Poor economic policies
    10 …. Good\Bad governance
    11 …. Tourism conwo/men
    12 …. Preventable diseases
    13 … Outdated recycled politicians
    14 …. Useless sports analysts/administrators year in year out
    15 …. Weak currency
    16 …Unexploited natural resources
    17 …. Sheepish educated uninformed citizens
    18 …. Uncertain future for the youth
    19 … Zambia the real africa.
    20 … Come to Zambia and sale your expired and rejected Goods.
    21 …. The economy is open…

  46. This is Zambia THE REAL AFRICA. Come to Zambia if want to know Africa.
    We have everything
    1 Plunderers
    2 The rich
    3 The Poor
    4 Drainage and sanitation scandles
    5 Poverty
    6 High cost of living
    7 Poor standards of living
    8 … 99% Gap between the poor and the rich
    9 Poor economic policies
    10 Good\Bad governance
    11 Tourism conwo/men
    12 Preventable diseases
    13 Outdated recycled politicians
    14 Us.e.less sports analysts/administrators
    15 Weak currency
    16 Unexploited natural resources
    17 Sheepish educated uninformed citizens
    18 Uncertain future for the youth
    20 Come to Zambia and sale your expired and rejected Goods.
    21 The economy is open to every jim and jack but zambian.
    22 Zambia the real africa where milk and honey is enjoyed by plunderers and non Zambians.

  47. Over here, corrupt people sieze to breath , they say “Destroy the seed of evil, or it will grow up to your ruin.”

  49. Senior Citizen won’t comment. To his credit, SC is too thick to steal. SC spends the whole day blogging on his keyboard at the office while his boss spends the whole day snogging on SC’s headboard at home.

  50. It is all wrong to give food to visitors when your children have not eaten anything. Whatever the word used, missaplied or misappropriated it was wrong. All controling chiefs must be disciplined, because we can not afford to go on like this. It does not matter who is the councilor of which party, you have failed to perform. Go on auditor general do your work big Mom. Good. God bless you.

  52. thats the way zambians are…… making themselves rich……………. zambia canever pickup… coz we gat real driblers.. and they knw howtta play the game

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