1 200 civil servants yet to declare assets
About 1 200 civil servants risk dismissal for failing to declare their assets if they do not give convincing answers on why they failed to do so to the Office Public Declarations of Assets and Liabilities (OPDAL).
OPDAL director Chris Tukula said in an interview on Wednesday that the civil servants have been communicated to explain why they have not yet declared their assets as mandated by law.
The 1 200 represent a 10 percent default rate, as about 12 000 are expected to declare their assets in the civil service.
Said Tukula: “While we have written letters to the 1 200 people, we also expect that their institutions will call them for a disciplinary hearing where we will be present. If the reasons for not complying are not convincing, we will have to recommend dismissals.”
Section 14 sub-sections 3A of the Public Declarations of Assets and Liabilities Act requires public officers to submit declarations annually.
The public officers and politicians required to make assets declarations are supposed to do so by July which is the end of each financial year.
If supervisors of the errant officers do not act, OPDAL is expected to report the errant officers to the Office of President and Cabinet to penalise them.
Last year, the office exposed six members of Parliament who did not declare their assets, including one minister, and it wrote Speaker of Parliament Richard Msowoya to declare vacant the seats of the six because the reasons they provided were unsatisfactory.
The six included Cabinet minister Grace Chiumia and legislators George Chaponda, Christopher Mzomera Ngwira, Willard Gwengwe, Henry Shaba and Davis Kadzinja, who did not declare their assets for the year 2016/17.
To date Parliament has not declared the seats vacant, and Msowoya said his office is consulting its legal department on the way forward.
On the delay by the Speaker to declare seats vacant, Tukula said his office just recommends, while only a Parliamentary Committee on Assets and Declarations can take action. He also said there is need for a statutory review to enforce the laws.
Section 15 of the Assets Declarations law obliges public officers, their immediate family members and associates to declare their financial status and other assets including sources of funding and how the assets were acquired.n
