PAC tackles Labour Ministry officials on allowances

Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has demanded that the Ministry of Labour and Manpower Development should recover the money amounting to K5 million from the officer who had an international trip, but did not travel.

PAC Chairpersons, Shadrek Namalomba, emphasized that it was an anomaly for the controlling officers to allow such financial mismanagement in their places.

“Controlling officers should desist from entertaining issues of money in such a manner,” he said, adding that the money should be recovered and be channelled to their intended purposes.

Earlier, the Principal Secretary for the Ministry of Labour and Manpower Development, Dickson Chunga told the Committee that a Mr Mazaza was supposed to travel to Algiers alongside two officers, Brenda Sulamoyo and Maureen Phiri, a trip he failed because his allowances were cleared very late by the banks.

“He failed to source the money on his own as others did for his accommodation and meals,” he said.

It was also observed during the meeting that another officer, Director of Sports, Jamieson Ndalama was overpaid by K769, 024 as an external travel allowance to Botswana.

He said the auditors found out that the accounts paid external travel allowances using a higher rate of $280 instead of a recommended rate of $200 per day as a director.

“This was indeed an error by our accounts personnel who used the rate for those travelling outside Africa rather than within Africa,” he said.

As a solution to recover the money, the ministry has written the secretary for sports to effect recoveries through their monthly salaries.

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