Malawi govt audit spares State House, OPC: Kamlepo wary of more plunder

A recent released audit report for government ministries and agencies has spared the State House and Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), government entities known for abuse of public money.

The Auditor General’s office has not explained why the state residences and OPC are glaring missing out in the  audit report amid concerns that money might have been abused.

Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) vice chairman Kamlepo Kalua expressed concern that controlling officers continue to disregard the public finance management Act on the use of public money.

“The report shows that in some instances, huge sums of money were stolen or there were some corruption involved yet the controlling officers did nothing to control the situation,” he said.

He then asked graft busting body, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and other prosecution agencies such as director of public prosecutions (DPP) to prosecute those involved in the abuse of public money.

Kalua, however, expressed worry that sometimes the ACB and the state prosecution agencies take time to conclude their investigations as people continue to plunder the public money with impunity.

ACB director Reyneck Matemba said the organsation would move in swiftly if PAC recommends action on some of the issues raised in the auditor general’s report.