Hwende guns for Guvamatanga over Auditor-General R...

Hwende guns for Guvamatanga over Auditor-General Report remarks

Zim Now Writer

The chairperson of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, Chalton Hwende, said that they will summon the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, George Guvamatanga, over his criticism of the Auditor-General’s report.

Guvamatanga criticised the Office of the Auditor General, saying the findings were misleading and suggesting that the report should have clarified that the government was taking action on the matter.

Hwende characterised Guvamatanga’s comments as an attempt to “intimidate and undermine the Auditor General.

“The attack on the OAG’s report by the permanent secretary is rather unfortunate and as a public accounts committee, we view it as an attempt to intimidate and interfere with the constitutional responsibility bestowed on the Office of the Auditor General.

“We will soon be summoning him to Parliament so that he can appear before the committee. Parliament through our committee is seized with the 2023 Office of the Auditor General’s report and we must be allowed to perform our oversight role and ensure that public resources are properly accounted for,” he said.

Speaking during a tour of the Finance Ministry by the Budget and Finance Parliamentary Committee on Monday last week, Guvamatanga said the Auditor General’s office “misdirected itself” in its report.

“l can safely say that the auditor general misdirected themselves because, within the three pillars of control, those are regarded as issues known to management so l am not saying they should not have highlighted them but they should have mentioned them and say, government has discovered that there were undelivered vehicles,” he said.

Transparency International Zimbabwe executive director Tafadzwa Chikumbu said, “The secretary of Finance should respect the role of the auditor general as established by Section 310 of the constitution of Zimbabwe and the Audit Office Act [Chapter 22:18] which mandates the Office of the Auditor General to provide oversight and ensure accountability within the three arms of government, state-owned enterprises and local authorities.

“As Transparency International, we value the role of supreme audit institutions in identifying corruption risks in the public sector. “His utterances are quite concerning and worrying in view of the damning findings of the 2023 report,” Chikumbu said.