‘SAFEGUARD PUBLIC FUNDS’

GOVERNMENT has directed all heads of accounting units to safeguard Zambia’s revenue and ensure that austerity measures are followed.

Secretary to the Cabinet, Simon Miti, said Government had put in place austerity measures due to fiscal challenges Zambia was currently experiencing.

Dr Miti explained that the measures were part of the reforms put in place to meet its expenditure.

In this regard, Dr Miti directed Accountant-General Dick Sichembe to monitor levels of compliance of all heads of accounting units to austerity measures.

He said Government expected accountants to provide informative reports to facilitate decision making that would result in compliance to austerity measures.

He was speaking yesterday in a speech read on his behalf by his deputy, Christopher Mvunga, at a quarterly workshop for Directors of Finance in Lusaka.

“We can mobilise as much revenue as we can but we need to monitor expenditure as well.

“It is clear that we still have a gap in terms of effective expenditure control, we still see ridiculous things happen. I have seen my office receive requests for workshops for 60 days,” Dr Miti said.

Dr Miti also urged the accountants to adhere to procedures and regulations with respect to accounting and reporting on debt management.

Effective debt management, he said, was key to sound financial management.

“The expertise in managing public finance resides in yourselves. So your role is to advise the Permanente Secretaries where you see they are going against their expectations.

“My expectation is that there are no excuses going forward in terms of audit queries and how we manage public nance,” Dr Miti said.

Dr Miti also urged the accountants to monitor payroll trends to eliminate errors.

He said he had his office had observed that there was a growing perception of poor payroll management which needed to be improved.

And Dr Sichembe pledged that accountants would do their best to ensure that their mandate was carried out with the most diligence fi