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Lloyd Gumbo Mr Speaker Sir

Other State apparatus among them the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Prosecutor-General’s Office and the Police have also let down Zimbabweans in general and the AG’s Office in particular, by failing to act on the evidence provided by the auditors.

A number of institutions are guilty as charged when it comes to corruption and poor corporate governance bedevilling most State parastatals and enterprises.

The vices cited by the Auditor-General are two-fold, that is, those of a criminal nature and ones of poor corporate governance.

Those of a criminal nature revolve around corruption while poor corporate governance entails failure to follow procedures, meaning the penalties differ between prosecution and reprimand respectively.

Of major concern is the looting that the Auditor-General’s Office has unearthed as having become the order of the day in these organisations, while service delivery and remittance to Treasury are dwindling yet only a handful have been punished.

Both the public and private media have screamed about corruption in Government institutions time and again but, disappointingly, the reaction from Government has been to reward the culprits with extended contracts.

It therefore comes as no surprise that the Auditor-General’s audit reports continue to gather dust in Parliament and other institutions with no action being taken to address the malpractices.

The general feeling out there now is that the office is meant to expose corruption, poor corporate governance and mismanagement just to spite those who are outside the ring.

It therefore boggles the mind why Government continues to avail resources to an office whose work is found irrelevant at the end of the day.

Most of the audits at these institutions chew up a lot of money from the Exchequer that should have been used to address other pressing budgetary needs.

If we can’t stand the Auditor-General’s reports why can’t we just shut down the office instead of spending so much money investigating things we don’t need?

Mr Speaker Sir, there are accomplices to the rot that has happened in our institutions and Parliament is one of them by omission.

The Auditor-General’s Office reports to Parliament particularly when it comes to audits that it sends to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public Accounts.

The reports are not presented to the Legislature so that they can see how men and women the State has entrusted with leading these organisations that chew public money.

They are presented to them so that they can make the necessary noise to ensure culprits are either prosecuted or reprimanded.

Taxpayers are paying a lot of money to enable their representatives to be their watchdog.

No one, no matter how religious they are, will keep a dog that lets intruders do as they please.

One of the major mandates of MPs is to protect the Constitution yet they allow it to be defiled by individuals.

The Auditor-General’s Office is a constitutional body whose mandate must be protected by Parliament by ensuring that its reports are taken seriously and recommendations taken on board.

Our MPs must not only be alive when it comes to their sitting allowances and petty debates in the two Houses.

They must be seen to be truly representing their constituents by expending energy on national issues that affect all Zimbabweans regardless of their age, political affiliation or sex.

Corruption is an issue of national interest that deserves special attention from all and sundry particularly those in power.

The reason the office of the Auditor-General was established was to ensure that public resources are put to good use at State institutions and, in the event of abuse, that culprits pay the price.

It is thus demoralising that of all the work the office puts in to execute its mandate, the outcome is ignored or not given the attention that it deserves.

Mr Speaker Sir, the Legislature has the power to force the executive to implement the Auditor-General’s recommendations.

In the event that ministers are reluctant, Parliament must pass a vote of no confidence in the concerned ministers.

It is high time Parliament exercises its authority without fear or favour if it is to justify its existence.

We cannot afford to have people’s representatives who are unable to exercise their duties for political expediency.

Mr Speaker Sir, ministers are the other culprits who have failed us by allowing poor corporate governance to flourish at State institutions.

It is the responsibility of ministers to reprimand management that fall under their ambit for poor corporate governance.

Failure to follow laid-down procedures creates room for corruption and looting, especially in issues to do with tenders and payment of non-existent allowances.

As such, when the AG’s Office exposes such malpractices, the onus is on respective ministers to tackle those managers by reprimanding them depending on the gravity of the offence.

Unfortunately, as I have raised before in this column, some ministers appoint their runners to boards and management of institutions that they preside over, which makes it difficult for them to take action against “their people”.

Mr Speaker Sir, we all know that on paper the appointment of top management at parastatals is done by boards but in reality sometimes it is the ministers who call the shots.

Section 308 (1) and (2) states that officials responsible for the expenditure of public funds and those in control of public property respectively must ensure that public funds are safeguarded and spent on legally authorised purposes and amounts.

Subsection (4) goes on to provide that: “An Act of Parliament must provide for the speedy detection of breaches of subsections (2) and (3) and the disciplining and punishment of persons responsible for any such breaches and, where appropriate, the recovery of misappropriated funds or property.”

This means accounting officers in the form of permanent secretaries in ministries and heads of parastatals must pay back from their pockets for overspending and diversion of money allocated to them.

This is meant to instil better financial management and discipline in ministries and parastatals.

Yet it is a fact that the AG’s Office always unearths massive financial mismanagement and indiscipline at most ministries and State institutions.

It is now almost two years since the current Government came into office yet alignment of such urgent pieces of legislation is still not in place thus allowing continued looting of public funds and the culprits getting away with murder.

As long as the appointment of boards and top management is done by individuals we are bound to have culprits getting away with murder amid indications that some ministers could also be recipients of proceeds from malpractices.

Other State apparatus among them the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Prosecutor-General’s Office and the Police have also let down Zimbabweans in general and the AG’s Office in particular, by failing to act on the evidence provided by the auditors.

Claims that they are waiting for a formal complaint or report from Parliament or any other authority are far-fetched.

For starters, when law enforcement agents suspect or receive a tip-off that a crime was or is being committed they do not wait for a formal complainant to come forward first, they immediately take action.

It therefore boggles the mind why the same agents fold their arms when it comes to the Auditor-General’s reports.

The ACC, the Police and the Prosecutor-General’s Office must be swift as soon as the AG publishes reports indicating malpractices and outright corruption.

The fate of former Air Zimbabwe top executives must set the benchmark for what awaits those who deliberately breach laid-down procedures for purposes of fleecing the State.

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