SPECIAL AUDIT REPORT POLITICAL
Mr Kafwaya, the Patriotic Front (PF) Lunte Member of Parliament 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 Presidents back.
Mr Kafwaya says Dr Mwambwa was an illegal Auditor General as he was constitutionally barred from holding the office and therefore, his work, the obligations he was fulfilling and the benefits he was enjoying for occupying the office were illegal and shall be declared null and void at the right time soon rather than later.
“But let us assume you were in office legally. And someone took interest in your special audit report on external debt for the Republic of Zambia. If those with interest were professional enough, they would just look at the cover of your report and realise that your report is total nonsense,” Mr Kafwaya said.
“Dr Ron M. Mwambwa, you are an illegal auditor and therefore all your work is illegal. All the obligations that you are fulfilling are illegal. All the benefits that you enjoying for what work you’re doing are illegal,” Mr Kafwaya said.
Mr Kafwaya said had Dr Mwambwa evaluated himself and his illegal position, he would have vacated his office on both legal and moral grounds.
“If the CIMA you qualified is similar to the one I did, you could have left your office by now - I say so because the CIMA that I know has a strong emphasis on ethics. And your insistence to stay in that office does not demonstrate any ethical behaviour at all,” Mr Kafwaya said.
He said 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.
“I remember Levy Mwanawasa
was president in 2006 and I know that Hakainde Hichilema was president in 2022. In between them, there was Rupiah Banda, Michael Sata and Edgar Lungu. Five presidents’ altogether.
How do you assess those risks spanning all this long period whereby the country has been led by five leaders, each with a different governance philosophy?
This special audit report is as irrelevant as it is illegal because of your being an illegal officer yourself,” Mr Kafwaya said.
He reminded Dr Mwambwa that he had given an audit opinion of the financial statements for the nation for the year ended December 31, 2022, which was in line with constitutional requirements.
“However, by going back to audit external debt for 2022 on a special basis, are you saying that when you expressed your opinion on the financial statements of the state for 2022 you did not consider the effect of external debt on the financing of the nation for that period? If you didn’t do so, I am very sorry; I’d call you an extremely incompetent auditor,” Mr Kafwaya wondered.