Lipenga defends Ifmis
Former Minister of Finance Ken Lipenga says the Integrated Financial Management System (Ifmis), whose porosity has resulted in massive plunder of government resources, has prevented over-expenditure in government departments.
Opening up for the first time since he was fired, Lipenga told Parliament yesterday that “his best was not enough” to prevent looting in the Ministry of Finance and other government institutions.
“When given these appointments, you try to give your best, but there are times when your best is not enough, and in my case, I want to particularly say publicly that my best was honestly not good enough to prevent people from breaking into Ifmis in the middle of the night in order to do these massive crimes,” he said.
He did not, however, take direct blame for cash-gate.
“We are all tainted even though we may not be directly involved in actual thieving. It’s a matter of regret for all of us for not having prevented these massive thefts.”
Lipenga’s assertions about Ifmis did not please the opposition bench which, through leader of UDF Atupele Muluzi, demanded further expla
nations.
“Is it in order to say Ifmis delivered when these same thefts were a result of Ifmis? We are not addressing the heart of the problem. Who is responsible? Why did Cabinet allow Ifmis to continue when it had serious problems?” Muluzi asked.
Responding to allegations made by Dowa Central MP Jean Kalirani that he was building a K90 million (US$243 243) house in Blantyre, Lipenga warned fellow MPs from peddling rumours from social media in Parliament.
Meanwhile the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has arrested three more government officials, two of which are from Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, for allegedly making fraudulent entries in Ifmis.
The arrests follow that of the ministry’s Principal Secretary Tressa Namathanga Senzani earlier in the week.
The suspects are the ministry’s senior clerk, Michael Mphatso; assistant accountant, Samuel Sakala Mzanda, and assistant accountant in the Ministry of Disability and the Elderly, Conrad Nambala.
ACB senior public relations officer Egrita Ndala said the bureau received a complaint on September 12, 2013, alleging that government officers at Capital Hill were making fraudulent entries in Ifmis.
She said the three will be charged with various offences under the Corrupt Practices Act and the Penal Code.
it will take those propagating that IFMIS is to blame to move Mt. Mulanje to my house to convince me of such. A computer or computer programme has never and will never steal even a document.