adminfor 19 vehicles.
The Public Accounts Committee, on Monday took the CMED board to task after a report by the Office of Audit and Comptroller General for the period between 2004 and 2009 unearthed that 19 vehicles could not be accounted for.
The committee also queried the criteria for allocating vehicles by the State-owned company that has resulted in some ministries getting more cars than others.
Nketa legislator Mr Seiso Moyo (MDC-T), raised concern on the loopholes in the asset register of the company.
“From what the audit report is saying, it seems there is poor record-keeping, vehicles go out without billing and there are no tracking systems.
“You can’t account for 19 vehicles and these are not glasses of water, but vehicles that we are talking about,” said Mr Moyo.
Acting chairman of the committee, Mr Simon Hove (Highfield West MDC-T), also said there were weak control systems at the CMED.
“There are weak control systems, a lot of thefts are taking place and unauthorised cannibalisation year-in-year out happens and no prosecutions have happened and no manager has been suspended or fired for non-performance,” he said.
Mr Hove then asked the board to provide the committee with detailed responses on their strategic plan and measures that would be taken to correct the anomalies raised in the audit report.
However, board chairman Mr Albert Kamhunga said they had already come up with a draft strategic document that would address some of the issues raised in the report.
Mr Kamhunga said they were appointed early this year after the firm had gone for nearly four years without a board.
“This board has come up with a strategic policy that we discussed in August and although it does not have the figures, it provides a framework of how we intend to move forward,” he said.
CMED managing director, Mr Davison Mhaka, said some of the discrepancies in the vehicle allocation were a result of Government directives.
“When Treasury allocates funds, they are sometimes specific to a particular ministry or Government department. They may say buy so much vehicles for district administrators and so much for education officers,” Mr Mhaka said.
Mr Hove, however, asked him to provide evidence of such directives.
CMED is a private company wholly owned by Government and operates a transport service, plant and equipment for hire, buys vehicles on behalf of Government and also runs service stations.
Most of its vehicles are down due to old age and lack of spares.
It has an active fleet of at least 100 vehicles and 200 lorries down from a peak of 800.
Online Reporter