Auditor General resigns

ACTING Auditor General Ron Mwambwa has resigned, head of public relations Ellen Chikale said in Lusaka yesterday.

She said Mr Mwambwa resigned his position to pursue personal endeavours.

Ms Chikale said Mr Mwambwa was thankful to President Edgar Lungu and the government for the support rendered to him during his tenure as acting Auditor General. The Auditor General’s office has in the recent past come under pressure over its operations and in particular its annual reports. Some opposition leaders from the Movement for Multiparty Democracy and the Zambia Republic Party had called for an audit of the Auditor General’s office.

There was also an issue of regional imbalance making the reports more political than objective.

The two parties had observed that while the Auditor General’s office was auditing government ministries and departments, there was hardly any report on its own audit.

Some of the issues raised included the excessive expenditure on the audit of foreign missions, where close to K2 million was spent on air tickets and allowances for 22 officers.

The Auditor General’s office was advised to rein in the expenditure because Government could not afford such excess costs. But when contacted, Ms Chikale refused to comment.