GOVERNMENT has suspended funding to the Citizen Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) pending a forensic audit into how the commission was disbursing funds.
Secretary to the Treasury Fredson Yamba said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that the CEEC did not follow correct procedures in disbursing funds.
He said the Government wanted to establish the criteria used in disbursing funds adding that the CEEC had not lived up to its initial ideals for which it was created to empower citizens.
Mr Yamba said funding to the commission would only resume after the audit was completed and a new system of operation was put in place.
He, however, assured the commission staff that the suspension would not affect their wages as Government would continue to meet operational costs.
Mr Yamba stressed also that the suspension of funding to the commission did not in any way imply that those owing the commission were indemnified from repaying their loans.
“We will not be funding the CEEC until a forensic audit is conducted to establish how these monies were being disbursed and who benefited. Later, we will resume funding after reorganising the commission,” Mr Yamba said.
He said the commission had a clear mandate of disbursing funds to the vulnerable who were supposed to be given priority.
And presenting his memorandum on the report of the Auditor General for 2009 on the accounts of parastatal bodies before the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee chaired by Chipangali Member of Parliament Vincent Mwale, Mr Yamba said the Government would take serious measures against controlling officers who would be implicated in matters of abuse of funds.
He said punishment to such erring officers should be stiffened by criminalising the failure to account for funds. Plans, he said, were underway to include such provisions in the Public Finance Act.
Meanwhile, Lubansenshi MP Patrick Mucheleka advised the Secretary to the Treasury to use the opportunity presented by the new PF Government to clean up the operations of State-owned enterprises.
Mr Mucheleka said the Government should move away from the trend of appointing members of boards based on political patronage but ensure that qualified persons who would add value to the parastatals were appointed.
“You have the opportunity to rise to the occasion and make meaningful changes in the operations of parastatals, for instance the appointment of cadres on the boards as a way of rewarding them should be a thing of the past,” Mr Mucheleka said.
[Times of Zambia]
Its a good move and sad to my friends who will lose employment
Dido,
CEEC workers kn’t lose employment coz there employed by the Gov hence the only thing the Gov kn do is transfer staff to Gov ministries.
Why is it that anything Govt has a hand in performs poorly? CEEC, Parastatals, etc etc.
If the cause of poor performance is political interference, then PF should ensure that robust systems are put in place that will stand the taste of time. Otherwise, successive cadres will always find wrong in what previous cadres did.
Correction: test of time.
basakala mwa pwa. mwa pya
BONSE BAKAWALALA BAZAKAMBILA MU CELLO, PLIZ BACHOSE NSAPATO
Good move, but the investigations should not take forever.