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Business Reporter
THE Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Finance and Economic Development will next week conduct marathon public hearings on the Special Economic Zones and Public Finance Management Amendment Bills.
The bills were gazetted last November.
In a statement, Parliament said the public hearing would begin on Monday in Harare and the following day the team conducting the hearings will be in Mutare.
On Wednesday, the public hearing will continue at Masvingo Civic Centre before moving to the Small City Hall in Bulawayo on Thursday.
The team will proceed to Chinotimba Stadium in Victoria Falls on Friday before winding up the consultation at Kwekwe Theatre on Saturday.
“The Public Finance Management Amendment Bill is mainly targeted at bringing sanity to the public enterprise sector which has persistently drained the fiscus of scarce resources through poor corporate governance practices, rampant abuse and theft of public funds and assets,” said Parliament.
It said of key importance in the Public Finance Management Bill is the insertion of a new section (51A), that tries to address conflict of interest in the supervisory functions of line ministries over public entities.
“The public, stakeholders, interested groups and organisations are invited to the hearings. The contributions will be considered by the Portfolio Committee and will be part of the committee’s report to be tabled in the National Assembly,” said Parliament.
Zimbabwe intends to establish Special Economic Zones (SEZs), which are geographical areas governed by one oversight management body that offers special trade incentives to companies that establish themselves in the designated zones.
The Bill to set up SEZs is now before Parliament for second reading.
It is hoped that the SEZs Bill will pave way for the establishment of a SEZ authority charged with the responsibility to ensure the project is a success.
With the Public Finance Management Amendment Bill, the government is seeking to come up with an Act that will tighten public sector finance management systems.
This is against the background that over $830 million of statutory funds were not properly accounted for last year.
The Public Finance Management Amendment Bill seeks to enhance transparency and accountability in the management of public resources and ensure that resources collected by public entities are used for delivering vital public service efficiently.
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