Friday, March 29, 2024

FDD calls for adequate funding of Auditor General’s office

Share

The Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) has urged Government to increase funding to the Auditor General’s Office to enable it to effectively scrutinise the use of public funds.

FDD vice-president, Chifumu Banda, said Government should allocate and timely disburse enough financial resources to the Office of the Auditor General to ensure it conducted thorough audits on public funds.

“The reason why law enforcement agencies sometimes do not take action on most cases raised in the auditor general’s report is that the auditors there do not do a thorough job before concluding their findings,” he said.

Mr Banda, who is also Chasefu member of Parliament, said the Auditor General’s cases sometimes ended up at the Director of Public Prosecution chambers because of insufficient evidence against suspects.

He alleged that sometimes the findings were sensational and did not warrant prosecution.

Mr Banda was commenting on recent complaints by Auditor General, Anna Chifungula, that law enforcement agencies were delaying in taking action against suspects cited in her reports.

He also dismissed suggestions that the Auditor General’s office should be given powers to prosecute public officers found wanting.

“There must be division of labour.

The job of officers at the Auditor General’s office is to scrutinise how public funds are used, and if there are cases warranting prosecution, let them recommend to law enforcement agencies.

“Let them be empowered and given more resources so that they do a thorough job if their cases have to be prosecutable,” he said.

The Auditor General’s reports have been revealing misappropriation of public funds in huge amounts.

However, little action has been taken against individuals and institutions mentioned in the findings.

1 COMMENT

  1. The office of the AG must press for private prosecutions.Let private sector lawyers prosecute to ensure non interference.The office of the AG must never wait for the DPP who is appointed by the president.If a case exists it should be pursued swiftly and competently.I agree with Mr Banda when he says the AG’s office should not have a prosecution dept.Let them concentrate on auditing only.

Comments are closed.

Read more

Local News

Discover more from Lusaka Times-Zambia's Leading Online News Site - LusakaTimes.com

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading