K109 million query attracts Parliament’s wrath

By Wezzie Gausi:

The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament (PAC) has ordered the Ministry of Justice to reprimand some of its officers for failing to account for K109 million.

Ministry of Justice members appeared before committee members in Lilongwe yesterday, when they answered questions related to 10 audit queries from the Auditor General’s 2018/2019 report.

During the meeting, it was revealed that payment vouchers worth K109 million were missing.

Pac Chairperson Shadreck Namalomba was not pleased with the ministry’s revelation that the missing documents were never found.

“We, as a committee, are not happy with how the Ministry of Justice is handling documents containing crucial information. They gave out their explanation but we are not bowing to what they have told us.

“Such being the case, we have ordered them to go back and do their house cleaning and reprimand all officers involved in this saga and report back to us within one month,” Namalomba said.

Ministry of Justice Principal Secretary for Administration Masauko Medi acknowledged that the ministry had not done well and promised to act as directed.

“Management regrets the 10 anomalies that the committee noted and we will make sure that we improve in the way we handle our affairs,” he said.

Apart from missing vouchers, other queries that were raised included those pertaining to the procurement of files not presented for audit inspection worth K5.5 million, transfer of motor vehicles worth K13.3 million without prior authorisation and purchase of motor vehicles worth K86.8 million outside procurement plan.