By Deogratias Mmana:
The Defence and Security Committee of Parliament has warned the Malawi Police Service (MPS) to avoid spending money that it collects, without authorisation from Treasury.
The committee has further called on Treasury to provide timely feedback to ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) when they seek authorisation to spend funds at their disposal. The lawmakers have also asked the Ministry of Finance to address challenges MDAs continue facing when it comes to accessing their financial allocations through the Integrated Financial Management Information System.
They made the calls in Lilongwe on Saturday where they took to task Inspector General (IG) Merlyne Yolamu and her officials for reportedly spending K7 billion which MPS collected and did not deposit into Account Number One.
Chairperson of the Defence and Security Committee Salim Bagus said during cluster meetings in the previous financial year, it transpired that MPS made the expenditure without Treasury’s approval.
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“We asked them to furnish the committee with the authorisation letter which was given to them. We have been waiting for that letter and when we saw that the letter was not coming, we invited them to this meeting,” Bagus said.
He added that MPS officials told the lawmakers that they had written Treasury asking for the authorisation, but never got a response.
Bagus indicated that was the reason his committee was asking the ministry to be providing timely feedback to avoid scenarios where some MDAs may feel the absence of a response is a silent go-ahead.
National Police spokesperson Peter Kalaya confirmed that Yolamu and her team appeared before the committee.
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“The Malawi Police Service, through the Inspector General, indeed appeared before the Defence and Security Committee of Parliament as required by law.
“The service furnished the committee with all the information that it needed and responded to all questions that were raised on the issues that came out,” Kalaya said.
He could, however, not provide details of the shared information, saying he is neither privileged nor entitled to do that.
Kalaya still insisted the committee was satisfied with the information and responses from MPS.
Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency Executive Director Willy Kambwandira faulted the police for spending the money without authorisation.
“Obviously, this is an abuse of taxpayers’ money which must be condemned. Our concern is also about these parliamentary inquiries which appear to be ceremonial with no matching action.
“Parliament must demonstrate some seriousness by reprimanding controlling officers who are spending revenue without approval; otherwise this is a worrisome trend which must be tamed,” Kambwandira said.
According to the Public Finance Management Act, Treasury is responsible for managing government money and is supposed to provide approval for expenditures made outside what has been allocated to MDAs.
