Local authorities fail to produce audit reports
By NATION REPORTER FAILURE by 105 local authorities to produce the audit report from 2013 to 2015 is a clear threat to the rule of law and good governance, says Zambia council for social development Executive Director Lewis Mwape
Mr Mwape said that failure the failure to do so showed that councilors lacked commitment to promote accountability and transparency.
In a statement to Daily Nation Mr Mwape said that local authorities should not use inadequate funding by the Ministry of Local Government as a scapegoat for failure to produce Audit Reports and accounts for locally mobilized public resources.
He said that the local authorities had boycotted producing the audit report because of lack of funding by the ministry government.
Mr Mwape charged that the current local authority leadership did not care about accountability and let alone on service delivery to the people.
He however, wondered how the Ministry of Local Government could managed to fund the Local Authorities without getting the feedback on how such resources were being applied.
“This is a dangerous situation which requires to be arrested urgently if we still have a responsible governance system in place,
“We therefore wish to call on the Minister of Local Government to immediately move in and ensure that challenges facing the Local Authorities are addressed, “he said.
He however, said that the state of affairs in the ministry of local government left nothing to be desired as they was a decline in good service delivery and no interest in public resources utilization.
“We hope the Minister Mr Vincent Mwale who once served as the chairperson for the accounts committee of the National Assembly can quickly come in and sort the situation out,” he said.