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{
    "id": 145365,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/145365/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 432,
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    "content": "periodically, quality assurance audits on practising firms in the country; private practising firms like KPMG, PriceWaterHouseCoopers and the rest but it does not carry out those quality assurance audits in the Controller and Auditor-General’s Office. Further, the Acts recently legislated under which that office operates allows ICPAK to be a director of that board as well as the Chairman of the PAC. I believe this is an issue which should be looked into so that the quality of audit can be improved. The other point of concern that we noted and that concerns me a lot, is that the Office of the Controller and Auditor-General audits the Government mostly through the Ministry of Finance. It is shocking then to find out that the Ministry of Finance, through the Government internal auditor is also the one which audits the Office of the Controller and Auditor-General. They audit each other. We would recommend that the Office of the Controller and Auditor-General, through ICPAK, is audited by independent auditors so as to have full independence from the Ministry of Finance. Further, we have so far, only considered forensic audits. There has not been value for money audit. That is an issue into which we should be moving now because we need to determine that the money that we spend, the money that the taxpayer spends, actually does the work for which it is meant. There is no need for us to have forensic audits which are ten years old and the projects which they went to construct are nowhere to be seen. They are white elephants or they cannot be quantified properly. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me just repeat one issue about appropriations-in-aid that was touched on earlier. We have a problem with absorption capacity with the Government and more so, with some Ministries. As you heard the Ministry of Health’s absorption capacity was only 64 per cent. That is really a shame. Most of these under-collections of Appropriations-in-Aid arise because the Government does not have its officers who sit on time to provide counterpart funds for the donors to provide the balance. I would strongly urge that these monies which are lost because of certain inaction by the Government be received by forcing the relevant officers in the Government to ensure that they sit on time, deliberate and ensure that Government counterpart funds are availed. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}