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Walter Nyamukondiwa Kariba Bureau
The Auditor-General’s Office is pushing to finalise the 2020 Audit Report by year-end after its preparation was scuttled by the outbreak of Covid-19 last year, and is happy that Government was implementing most of the recommendations from previous reports.
Auditor-General Mrs Mildred Chiri said Covid-19 had affected her office’s operations, but said the report should be completed this year to ensure audits were up-to-date.
Speaking on the sidelines of the 7th Internal Control Congress for Africa hosted by the Internal Controls Institute of Zimbabwe (ICIZ) in Kariba, Mrs Chiri said the Second Republic had taken significant steps in implementing her recommendations.
“We have been producing audit reports and the implementation process has been quiet slow,” she said. “However, I am glad to say that I think we can see some positive progress now being made.
“We find that internal auditors and ministries are following up on my findings and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development has also come up with a unit that is tracking the implementation of the Auditor-General’s recommendations.”
Mrs Chiri said the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission was also following up to ensure her findings were implemented, while the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament was also working to ensure her findings were actioned.
She commended the PAC for coming up with sub-committees zeroing in on recommendations specific to local authorities, parastatals and ministries.
The various sub-committees would converge and prepare their report to be tabled before Parliament.
Mrs Chiri called for the digitalisation of audit and Government systems as part of measures to improve corporate governance and strengthen internal control systems.
Digitisation of systems, she said, would eliminate human interference which raises opportunities for corruption and underhand dealings.
She commended the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development for coming up with programmes, procedures and policies that were geared towards emergency situations to curb loopholes that were discovered in the Covid-19 audit.
ICIZ chief executive officer Mr Proctor Nyemba said procurement fraud was one of the major problems that the country faced and there was need to come up with control mechanisms.
In an interview, ICIZ board chairman Mr Danisa Chinamasa said the conference was aimed at empowering organisations that were coming out of the Covid-19.
He said there was an upsurge of fraudulent activities following the outbreak of the pandemic.
Online Reporter