EDITORIAL COMMENT: Govt walking the talk on corruption

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THE Gazetting of the Public Finance Management Act (Chapter 22:19) which contains provisions for arresting senior State and public officials who engage in corrupt activities is not only welcome but was long overdue as it gives bite to entities entrusted with fighting crime.

Agencies such as the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission have been frustrated in their operations as they have been hitting a brick wall each time they investigate so-called bigwigs engaged in corruption.

ZACC’s track record shows that it has successfully investigated top officials including serving Cabinet Ministers but after going through the painstaking work of putting together water-tight cases, its efforts have gone to waste due to political interference.

Now President Mugabe has moved to give law enforcement agencies such as ZACC and the police the green light to investigate and arrest corrupt public officials with the courts able to jail them for up to five years upon conviction.

He has also empowered permanent secretaries of ministries to fully oversee financial management of public entities and statutory funds.

According to a Government Gazette published last Friday, Government officials and bosses at public entities will be jailed for up to five years if convicted of accepting monetary or other benefits “inconsistent with discharge of duty”, such as tokens of appreciation, travel, fuel, holiday, management committee and trustee allowances.

The Government Gazette said President Mugabe had signed into law the Public Finance Management Amendment Act (Chapter 22:19) which contains the new provisions. The amendment to Section 51A of the principal Act says, “The accounting authority and every member or employee of a public entity, and the accounting officer and every member of the civil service employed in an appropriate ministry responsible for that entity, shall (not)…

“(2)(a) act in a manner or receive any monetary or other benefit that compromises the supervisory or regulatory role of the appropriate ministry or infringes on the autonomy of the public entity.”

It is an offence for ministry officials to accept “(2)(b)(iii) or receive any monetary or other benefit inconsistent with discharge of the appropriate ministry’s supervisory or regulatory role including (but not limited to) any payment or benefit in the way of or in guise of – management committee allowances; or trustee or trustee representative allowances; or travel allowances, fuel coupons or holiday allowances”.

According to the Act, any person who wilfully or with gross negligence contravenes the regulations “(4) shall be guilty of an offence and liable upon conviction to a fine not exceeding level ten or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years or to both such fine and such imprisonment”.

The Act empowers permanent secretaries to recommend to ministers to either approve or reject recurrent capital budgets of public entities.

The amendment to Section 10 of the principal Act says, “(4) Every accounting officer with regard to public entities and statutory funds for which his or her ministry is responsible shall –

“(a) ensure that each such public entity or statutory fund has systems in place for planning, allocating, budgeting and reporting the use of public resources and that public resources are safeguarded against loss; …

“(c) have power to call upon any accounting authority of each such entity (public entity) or (statutory) fund to provide an explanation on an issues affecting the use of public resources.” Permanent secretaries are empowered to order investigations into the conduct of a public entity or statutory fund. We welcome the gazetting of the Public Finance Management Act as it will go a long way in curbing corruption among public and senior Government officials.

In recent weeks, several ministers and senior Government officials have been accused of using their positions to abuse funds from departments, companies and other entities falling under their portfolios and the promulgation of the Act will put an end to their activities. By empowering permanent secretaries to fully oversee financial management of public entities and statutory funds, President Mugabe has enhanced accountability and plugged loopholes which allowed unfettered access to public funds by those who seek to abuse them.

The new measures will certainly curtail the rent-seeking behaviour and unhealthy relationship between the heads of parastatals and State entities and the political heads of their line Ministries.

The performance of parastatals will also improve since they are now directly under the supervision of permanent secretaries who may, at any time, institute investigations into their financial conduct should the need arise.

We hope Ministers and other senior Government officials with a propensity for dipping their hands into public coffers have been put on notice.

Their days of plunder are over and we wish to thank the President for moving with speed to sign the law which will make it virtually impossible for them to continue with their nefarious ways. A corruption-free Zimbabwe is now a possibility.

 

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