EU pleased with financial management progress
The vice-President of Malawi, Khumbo Kachali has said the European Union (EU) is pleased with the progress being made by the government in its effort to manage the challenges brought about by the looting of government resources at Capital Hill in Lilongwe.
Kachali made the remarks Thursday after the bilateral cooperation meeting he had with the European Union Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs on the sidelines of the 22nd Ordinary Session of the African Union in Ethiopia.
The vice-president said it was incumbent upon government, to explain to its Development Partners on the procedures being followed in the financial management systems after the massive looting of government resources.
He said: “I want to inform the nation that EU is very happy with the progress and its our sincere hope that the progress being made will continue. This will help the nation to maintain the confidence our cooperating partners are building again on us.”
Kachali further thanked the EU for the support it is giving to Malawi.
“You will recall that the Minister of Finance, Maxwell Mkwezalamba was in Brussels where the EU unlocked its financial support and resumed their aid to our country. I was expressing gratitude on behalf of the nation for the gesture and confidence that has been built on Malawi,’’ said Kachali.
The European Union Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs said he has appreciated some of the steps and procedures the Malawi government is taking to clean the issue.
Piebalgs said: “I am happy with the issue of calling to responsibility on officers that are in control of the system. On top of that, I appreciate the establishment of credibility of public finance management since this is crucial for our continued support to the government.”
He added that there is need for government to continue with the steps and procedures being followed for the betterment of all Malawians.
The massive looting of public finances which led to the freezing of budgetary support by donors to Malawi took place in September 2013. Government has since embarked on investigations to look into the matter and make sure that all the culprits are brought to book.
Nonsense
Load of bullshit. Khumo Kachali you are one of the thieves, Even hospital beds for pregnant mothers, you can steal them in broad day lights. They must be fools the EU guys to believe you. Or maybe they want a cut from cashgate themselves. Nowadays everything is possible with politicians. Mxiiii
This is real progress in safeguarding the public pulse going forward! Having a named accountable official is how the system should have been designed in the first place. Now a “Mr Phiri” – PS for Health for example, will account for any discrepancies in his dept. He must approve all outgoing expenditure. One mishap and Mr Phiri the PS from Health is dismissed and never to hold such responsibility ever again in his life. (No recycling of bad people). Mr Phiri will be given training upfront so he knows all the “do’s and don’ts” of his responsibility to be fair. However, by itself that is not enough.
My wish list is as follows: Here we design systems with colour coded traffic lights. The govt Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) must have a monthly or quarterly report that shows reconciled accounts position of all transactions and provides a summarised overview picture for executives; 1) the President, 2) Parliament and 3) identified independent bodies if need be. If this overall report shows “Green”, it means all is well with the whole govt finance system, no worries. If it is “Amber” colour then there are some discrepancies but within an acceptable range e.g. plus or minus say 2% variance. No executive action is taken but internal action maybe taken to correct the situation. If it is “Red” it means significant discrepancy has been observed in the system. Alert! Alarm! bells and whistles! Theft has occurred at the ministry of health. Mr Phiri is summoned before the President or parliament select committee to explain. He is given his marching orders and money recovery process is instituted immediately. No extended discussions, no delayed judiciary proceedings; every thing is predefined. The benefit of including an independent oversight is to improve transparency; itself a deterrent.
Therefore, on that basis these steps taken to fix the govt financial system must be applauded going forward in my view.
What then happens if govt monies are stolen from all over the place and the president
won’t declare her wealth? Is the president being accountable to the people of Malawi? Should she get her marching orders too?
Thomas Ngoma there’s nothing new in your proposal in the way IFMIS functions save for the colours. On the other hand why is government hiding the forensic audit report if indeed there’s tangible progress on financial management? London ideas hey
All this Ngoma guy wants is some sikono from the cashgate, hence all his praises for what the PP regime is doing.
It seems this corruption thing is catching. We have woken up to the sudden news headlines that corruption is rampant here in the European union also! All 28 economies are involved, no country is spared. Oops! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26014387. It will be interesting to see if “Loans/grants” to EU countries will be frozen because of “zero tolerance” to corruption. How the EU will deal with this situation must form a template for dealing with overseas “EU aid” corruption cases also.