WITCH-HUNT OR AUDIT?

IT is nothing short of a political witch-hunt.

That, we believe aptly describes the so-called special audit on Zambia’s external debt that has been carried out by Dr Ron Mwambwa, the acting Auditor-General spanning 16 years back.

What audit spans 16 years, covering a period in which many of the players have died or retired from service and therefore unable to defend themselves. If anything, the audit fits perfectly well with the narrative of the new dawn administration that wants to undermine all that has been done in the past.

And moreover, it would not be farfetched to imagine that the whole scheme is targeted at those who served in the Patriotic Front administration.

We agree with Lunte Member of Parliament, Mutotwe Kafwaya who has described the special audit report on the country’s external debt spanning 16 years back, to the presidency of late Levy Mwanawasa as badly calculated politics and poor propaganda against a selected class of citizens whom the UPND has targeted to persecute and victimise through political vengeance.

Mr Kafwaya has described the audit reports on the country’s external debt dating back to 2006 as nothing but total nonsense, useless, illegal and a waste of public resources.

Mr Kafwaya says Zambia has now become a circus where a constitutionally illegal Auditor General could author an audit report on the country’s external debt spanning four presidencies.

From a layman’s point of view, one is bound to ask what exactly Dr Mwambwa is looking for considering that the Office of the Auditor General has been auditing

the government’s accounts through the years.

And to our understanding, the reports have been accepted with the recommendations noted by the previous administrations.

Dr Mwambwa has released an audit in which he has said Zambia’s external debt is revealing significant financial discrepancies and irregularities, including what he says are conflicting figures, alleged overpricing and weaknesses in the contraction of debt.

He has gone as far back as 2006 in his audit up to the financial year ending December 31, 2022.

According to the audit, there had been weaknesses in the contraction of external debt with the government allegedly signing seven contracts in amounts totalling US$958 million to finance various projects from 2014

to 2019.

Mr Kafwaya argues that Dr Mwambwa’s audit report lack what was called risk assessment especially that it was covering the period from January 1, 2006 all the way to December 31, 2022, stating that the limited resources which had been wasted on the report could have been applied optimally.

He wondered how Dr Mwambwa could have made risk assessments of his audit report covering a period of more than 16 years with varying national populations, priorities and challenges.

Considering the controversial circumstances under which Dr Mwambwa was appointed Attorney-General by the new dawn administration, could that explain the special audit probably done as an extra-curricular exercise?

As Mr Kafwaya has pointed out, the whole exercise smacks of a political witch-hunt for which Dr Mwambwa should not be spared for allowing himself to be used. Zambians want to see constitutional offices like that

of the Auditor-General, Chief Justice among others rise above partisan politics and win their trust.