Pac summons government controlling officers
The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament (Pac) has summoned some of the controlling officers whose ministries have been implicated in the K6.2 billion audit report.
The committee was expected to meet from April 26 to May 14 2021 for the concerned ministries to answer audit queries.
According to one of the letters, which JJ Manzi has signed for the Clerk of Parliament, the committee would, among others, meet the Secretary for Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare.
However, Pac Chairperson Shadreck Namalomba dismissed suggestions that their investigations would be in conflict with the police.
“In this case, we are inviting controlling officers and their officers for our investigations. Police will have to deal with those involved in theft. What we want is to dig deeper [into the issue],” Namalomba said.
Namalomba said there were queries Pac needed to address, including the audit report’s failure to address the issue of allocations made to Malawi Defence Force and Malawi Police Service.
Scores of government controlling officers and district commissioners, who were responsible for managing the K6.2 billion meant for Covid response, have been interdicted while dozens are still in police custody for allegedly flouting procurement procedures and pocketing unlawful allowances.
