President extends AG’s term

GOVERNMENT has extended Auditor-General Mrs Mildred Chiri’s term of office to February 2023, after the approval by Parliament of her nomination by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

The extension of Mrs Chiri’s term by six years will take her service at the graft busting body to 19 years.

She briefly left the office last year after former president Mr Robert Mugabe attempted to replace her with former Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) general manager Mr Mike Ndudzo.

Mr Ndudzo’s secondment was, however, rejected by Parliament.

Finance and Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa announced the extension of Mrs Chiri’s term in last Friday’s Government Gazette.

Reads the notice: “It is hereby notified, in terms of Section 310 (1) as read with Section 340(1)(a) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) of 2013, that the President, with the approval of Parliament, has reappointed Mildred Chiri as Auditor-General with effect from 26th February, 2017, for a period of six (6) years ending 25th February 2023.”

Mrs Chiri holds a Bachelor of Accounting degree from the University of Zimbabwe and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries (FCIS).

Mrs Chiri joined the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor-General as an audit assistant in 1983 and rose through the ranks to the position of Comptroller and Auditor-General.

Among her achievements is clearing a backlog of the annual Comptroller and Auditor-General’s reports which had lagged behind since the year 2000.

The office is now current with its reports.

In 2010 she was awarded the Chartered Secretary of the Year by the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) in Zimbabwe for the role of the Auditor-General’s Office in promoting transparency and accountability.

In 2016, she received the Women’s Top Leadership Excellence Award for the Government Sector from Women’s Institute of Leadership.

Mrs Chiri is known for releasing damning reports that have exposed mismanagement, corruption and poor corporate governance in the public sector, local authorities and parastatals.