Accountant General Kennedy Musonda has cautioned accounting officers against leaking information to the public that come in their possession.

Mr Musonda said accounting officers are privy to a lot of information that sometimes finds its way to the public, especially through social media.

He cautioned officers against abusing social media, especially ahead of the 2021 general elections, adding that any officer found wanting will be disciplined.

“As accounting officers, you are privy to a lot of information that any other person is not privy to, but that does not mean that you have to be giving out information, any information that comes to you by virtue of your position is for employment. You are paid for it,” Mr Musonda said.

Speaking in Solwezi yesterday during a meeting with accounting staff from all the 11 districts in North-Western Province, Mr Musonda said leaking of information is a serious and punishable offence according to the conditions of service of the public service.

“The only person allowed to give out financial related information is your controlling officer here, controller of internal audits, my office, secretary to treasury and auditor general, the rest of you, do not try to become a hero by giving out information that has come to you by virtue of your employment,” he cautioned.

Meanwhile, Mr Musonda expressed concern over the increasing number of audit queries in the auditor general’s report which he said was as a result of not following internal audit controls.

Mr Musonda said the lack of adherence to internal audit controls and the public financial management act has contributed to the number of audit queries rising.

“I have noted with concern that audit queries keep going up in the Auditor General’s report because of not complying with internal audit controls. Work with internal auditors, they are not your enemies, to avoid making mistakes that will attract audit queries,” Mr Musonda said.

He advised accounting staff to acquaint themselves with the available regulations in order to offer proper guidance to controlling officers when handling financial matters.

Speaking at the same meeting, North Western Province Permanent Secretary, Willies Mangimela said he expects accounting staff to play a key role in ensuring prudent utilization of resources in accordance with the public financial management act.

“I do not want to appear before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in 2021 and start answering audit queries because of your negligence, I will not hesitate to charge you,” Mr Mangimela said.

He commended the office of the Accountant General for interacting with accounting staff in the province to ensure improved performance.

The Accountant General is in the province on an orientation tour to appreciate the financial management challenges that accounting staff are facing in implementing financial regulations.

Government through the Ministry of National Guidance and Religious Affairs says it has decided to introduce a Covid-19 Empowerment Fund for the churches.

She said the fund is aimed at helping the churches to come up Covid-19 sensitization in the communities and help the vulnerable in their congregations.

Speaking when she addressed journalists yesterday at Government Complex, Ministry of National Guidance and Religious Affairs Minister Godfridah Sumaili said President Edgar Lungu’s administration is aware of the economic hardships the churches have gone through during the Covid-19 pandemic period.

Rev. Sumaili stated that her Ministry has been tasked by the President to make modalities of how the funds shall be disbursed and accessed by the church.

“The churches will be informed when this has been done and obviously, we shall make consultation so that the fund is properly administered without leaving anyone behind. Even those churches that in the rural areas should be able to access,” she added.

The Minister further added that the government is grateful for the support it has continued to receive from the church and Religious Bodies as the nation continues to battle with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rev. Sumaili disclosed that churches that operate in school class rooms are still not operating but they have not been banned from using classrooms.

She said the suspension has been done in order to allow the school authorities to organize themselves and see how the pupils can be kept safe in this time of Covid-19.

“The decision to suspend the of use classrooms for worship purposes was done in consultation with the Ministry of health, Ministry of General Education, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Local Government,” she noted.

The Minister further noted that the issue of churches worshiping in classrooms is receiving the necessary attention as her Ministry is working with other line ministries in finding a lasting solution.

LUSAKA High Court judge Gertrude Chawatama has dismissed a case in which Fumba Chama also known as Pilato and four others wanted to challenge the decision of the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to compel duly registered voters to present themselves for verification under a new register for the 2021 general elections as a condition to participate in the poll.

Pilato, Maiko Zulu, Brian Bwembya popularly known as BFlow and two youths Nawa Sitali and Muleta Kapatiso were seeking leave to commence judicial review proceedings to challenge the decision by the ECZ which they argued that it was illegal.

Pilato and Others through their lawyers Mutembo Nchito and Musa Mwenye wanted the court to quash ECZ’s decision for being unreasonable.
But ECZ Chief Electoral Officer Patrick Nshindano urged the court not to grant the applicants’ application because the case was prematurely before court.
He explained that the case by Pilato and others was similar to two other case in court already in which applicants are seeking similar remedies.
Nshindano urged the court not to entertain the application.

“The applicants are prematurely before this Honourable Court as the respondent is guided by the Electoral Process Act in carrying out of the voter registration exercise and the law provides for a redress mechanism for persons aggrieved with the registration process,” Nshindano submitted.

In her ruling, judge Chawatama said allowing proceedings in the Pilato case to proceed might lead to conflicting decisions by herself and judge Mwila Chitabo who is presiding over a similar matter by the UPND and that that would bring the integrity of the court into disrepute.

She said the decision which would be made before judge Chitabo, although brought by the UPND, would resolve the issues which Pilato and Others have brought before her.

“I agree with the ECZ that the motives for the respective applicants may be different, the rights they all seem to protect are not of those individual groups or the groups they represent,” the judge said.

Judge Chawatama said the complaints emanated from a set of facts, and that is the decision of the ECZ to require currently validly registered voters in terms of the law to participate in a process that amounts to requiring them to register as voters in a period of one month.

“The reliefs sought in the two matters are similar, the gist of which is to quash the said decision of the respondent,” she said.

Judge Chawatama added that she was also alive to the fact that whatever decision she would make, it might impact on the application for leave for judicial review.

She dismissed the application and granted Pilato and others leave to appeal.

Judge Chawatama however, ordered that each party will bear own costs.

Group spokesperson Muleta Kapatiso after the ruling said the applicants were shocked that the matter was dismissed on grounds that it was similar to that of the UPND.

“It comes to us with shock because in our view, this amounts to telling us that until one case which is being handled by judge Chitabo is heard and finalised, no other citizens will raise anything on similar grounds. We will not be forced to join the UPND and their case,” he said.

“We will continue to seek other avenues to ensure that ECZ is accountable.”

About six families have been left homeless after their houses were yesterday demolished by a combined force of State police and Mopani Copper Mines police.

The houses are alleged to have been built on a piece of land belonging to Mopani Copper Mine farm area in Mindola West.

And Mopani Copper Mines Public Relations Manager Nebert Mulenga confirmed that the company undertook the demolition exercise in order to secure a small piece of its land that had been encroached.

In a statement made available to ZANIS in Kitwe yesterday, Mr. Mulenga said the company undertook the demolition exercise after a comprehensive community stakeholder engagement through notices, community road shows and radio announcements.

And Dr. Patrick Chanda, one of the affected developers expressed shock that Mopani is claiming ownership of the land which was offered to them by Kitwe city council through a proper procedure.

Speaking in an interview with ZANIS in Kitwe yesterday, Dr. Chanda said the affected developers were given the parcels of land by the council and followed the due process as well as obtaining title deeds from the Ministry of Lands in Ndola.

“We had gotten a court injunction to prevent Mopani from demolishing our structures but the mine disregarded the injunction claiming it was a not a real injunction, so we are now going to engage a lawyer to seek advice on what we should do next,” Dr Chanda said.

He claimed that his structure was valued at K2.3 milion while a friend of his had his house valued at over K3 million by government property evaluators.

He said the decision by Mopani was disastrous to the affected people as they had spent huge sums of money constructing the structures that have been demolished.

And when contacted, Kitwe City Council Town Clerk Mbulo Seke said the council has not yet seen the affected people’s offer letters to establish how the concerned pieces of land were obtained.

Mr. Seke explained that for one to begin building, they ought to have a building plan approved by the council and the offer letter must be accompanied by minutes of a council meeting that approved the offer.

Kitwe city has of late witnessed frequent massive demolitions of properties alleged to have been built in illegally obtained pieces of land.

Recently, about 150 households from Luyando Community Association had their houses demolished by Mopani Copper mines in Mindolo North after the mine claimed that the community had encroached on its land.

Government has since secured a piece of land in New Kitwe across Kafue River where these victims who are currently lodged at Hellen Kaunda secondary School grounds will be relocated to

Copperbelt Permanent Secretary (PS), Bright Nundwe has urged local authorities to be firm and follow procedures when allocating land to avoid illegal constructions that result in the demolition of structures.

Mr. Nundwe says it is costing the government a lot of money to compensate victims over situations that can be avoided by councils following the right procedures when allocating land.

He said the government does not take pleasure in seeing people’s structures demolished when councils are there to prevent such situations.

ZANIS reports the Ps was speaking today when he addressed Town Clerks and Directors of Finance from the 10 districts on the Copperbelt.

He said councils in the province should improve in the manner they are managing their operations.

“There has to be prudence, proper accountability in the manner your run councils, not only accounting for funds but attitude of workers so that you avoid deficiencies,” Mr Nundwe advised.

Mr Nundwe implored Directors of Finance to ensure utmost accountability in the use of public funds and follow the 2018 financial regulations ACT to the later to avoid unnecessary audit queries.

He further urged Town Clerks to maintain a profound relationship with Mayors and District Commissioners in their respective districts so that they deliver development to the people

“The President wants councils to work in clusters to achieve more and not as independent counsels because the agenda is to achieve development. Good relationships will be built from team work,” he noted.

Meanwhile, the PS reminded councils to work towards controlling smuggling which is rampart in border areas to ensure national food security.

Mr Nundwe also called on all councils to clean up all debris before the rainy season as way of preventing out breaks of water diseases in the province

“As a province we don’t want to record any case of Typhoid or Cholera, it becomes expensive to treat people in hospitals when you can prevent that,” he said.

And Ndola Town Clerk, Cosmas Chalusa called on the provincial administration to help councils with reports on challenges from residents in order to improve service delivery.