YOUTHS ON AUDITGATE: DON’T REPEAT PF MISTAKES –YOUTH

IT is shocking that the UPND administration has engaged foreign audit firms to audit the defence and security wings when they castigated PF for engaging a French company called Lazard Freres to advise it on its unsustainable debt while in the opposition, a youth movement has said.

The PF in 2020 engaged Lazard Freres to provide advisory services regarding liability management of debt at a cost of $5 million, a move which the UPND in opposition at the time strongly criticised.

Zambia National Youth Think Tank Executive Director, Mumba Tebulu in an interview said it was appalling that the UPND administration are keen on doing what they condemned the PF of doing not long ago.

Mr. Tebulu said most of the people that are serving in government now castigated the move by the PF when they wanted to engage a foreign French company to advise on the country’s unsustainable debt.

He said the UPND leadership should treat the move to engage Grant Thornton and Price Water House Coopers (PWC) to audit the defence and security wings as bad as the PF move to engage a foreign company to advice on the country’s debt was bad

“What was bad in the PF regime cannot be good in the new dawn administration, they UPND castigated the move by the PF when they wanted to engage a foreign French company to look at debt for Zambia,” he said.

Mr. Tebulu said as youths they we are totally against the move by the government to engage a private company to audit the Defense and Security wings.

He said the UPND leadership was on record stating that they want to strengthen institutions but its move to sideline the competent and legal entity like the Auditor General’s office mandated by the constitution to audit all public institutions was questionable.