Chronicle Editor
Harare Bureau
Finance and Economic Development Permanent Secretary George Guvamatanga, says his office is still reviewing structures of the ministry to find out why it has not been complying with statutory requirements under the country’s Constitution and parliamentary statutes.
When it comes to Public Accounts, Government through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development is expected to comply with the Constitution, which include among others Section 298 (Principles of Public Financial Management), Section 299 (Parliamentary oversight of State revenues and expenditure) Section 300 (Limits of State borrowings, Public Debt and State Guarantees), Section 307 (Unauthorised Expenditure.)
However, according to yesterday’s deliberations before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), chaired by Mr Tendai Biti (MDC-A), the Finance Ministry has not been complying with most of these statutes for several years.
The PAC had sought an explanation from the Ministry of Finance team led by Mr Guvamatanga on why the ministry has not been complying with the statutes despite the Auditor General Mildred Chiri having pointed out the anomalies on several occasions.
Mr Guvamatanga, however, said since most of the non-compliance issues are historical, before he came into office, there was a need to have a detailed review of people, processes and systems to find out why there hasn’t been any compliance.
“I am reviewing to see whether the structures are appropriate, whether the skills mix is appropriate and the other things that need to be reviewed,” said Mr Guvamatanga.
He said the questions that the committee sought answers for are equally the same that he has been asking.
“Other things you fix as you go, some require a little bit of time, so by any means we are not trying to come here and say there was non-compliance and we are comfortable.
“We are equally unhappy, we are equally disturbed with non-compliance and when you then review and you see the instances, you then need a very thorough review otherwise you just plug the hole, when something requires a completely different set of action tomorrow,” said Mr Guvamatanga.
“I can assure the Committee that at the moment we are putting everything into place to make sure that all issues of non-compliance are brought to Parliament and that there is compliance. We are not in any way trying to indicate that this happened and it’s not going to be remediated.”
He said there is actually serious remediation ongoing in the ministry.
He said processes and systems have to be proper if the issue of compliance has to be properly dealt with.
Mr Biti, however, said Mr Guvamatanga and his team that included the Accountant General Daniel Muchemwa, had not given the committee any tangible information, enough to be tabled before Parliament.
“When we go before Parliament, we must be able to explain the extent of non-compliance, what laws have been breached in terms of the constitution, in terms of the Public Finance Management Act, the Debt Management Act, the RBZ Act, we have to report and make serious findings before making recommendations to Parliament,” said Mr Biti.
He said the committee had, however, provided little information to the questions asked, with Mr Guvamatanga saying most of the questions were historical and needed to be thoroughly reviewed before a conclusion on why there was no compliance can be reached.
Mr Guvamatanga also questioned Parliament’s oversight role, which he said was not executed properly in the past years. He said accounting for State coffers is a shared responsibility between his Ministry and Parliament through its responsible committees.
“One of my biggest surprises is where was Parliament, and why was it not summoning the Ministry in the last five or so years. I take full responsibility for the omissions at the Ministry, which are quite a cause of concern, serious cause for concern — having said that the oversight role should have been played.
“It is a shared responsibility and that shared responsibility has not been fully shared, but five years later. I think Parliament and the Public Accounts Committee must always make sure that it plays its oversight role,” Mr Guvamatanga said.
He said things that happened five years ago should not be discussed now as if the Public Accounts Committee, the Accountant General and the Secretary for Finance were not there.
“I hope that going forward, the committee would be as effective as you are today.”
He said failure by the Finance Ministry to comply for several years is also a reflection of a failure within the system of Public Accounts Committee, Parliament and the Finance Ministry.
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