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Stakeholders follow proceedings during the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development consultative workshop at a Bulawayo hotel yesterday

Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
THE Government has started the process to amend the Public Management Finance Act to align it with the new Constitution.

Yesterday a stakeholder consultative workshop was held in Bulawayo by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to discuss the issue.

Inter-Ministerial Technical Committee expert Dr Onai Muvingi said the current Act was promulgated before the new Constitution that was adopted in 2013 hence it was not in sync with the country’s supreme  law.

“The current PFMA was promulgated in 2010 and now the objective is to ensure that the Act is in line with the Constitution that was enacted in 2013.

“The objective of this stakeholder consultative workshop is that we are discussing the PFMA to review and align it with the new Constitution,” said Dr Muvingi.

She said some of the principles that should guide the PFMA are transparency and accountability.

“We are recommending the alignment of the Act to the new Constitution. Section 301 (1) of the Constitution requires the enactment of an Act of Parliament that promotes equitable allocation of capital grants between provincial and metropolitan councils and local authorities; any other allocations to provinces and local authorities and provision of any conditions on which those allocations may be made.

“The appropriate Act that should implement these provisions is the PFMA. These provisions should be tied to the national budgeting process.

“The PFMA doesn’t have provisions that are informed by this principle,” she said, adding that this means the PFMA was in contrast with Section 301 (1) of the Constitution.

Dr Muvingi also noted that principles of good governance, national development, empowerment and employment creation, gender balance and equality were provided for by the country’s Supreme law.

“The principles provided for by the Constitution were reviewed in relation to the PFMA and whether they were incorporated in this statute. The only principles that are provided for in the PFMA are transparency and accountability,” she said.

For example, she said one of the objectives of the PFMA is to secure transparency, accountability and sound management of the revenues, expenditure, assets and liabilities.

“This means that the PFMA is neither informed by the principles such as domestication of international instruments nor does it have gender sensitive provisions,” she said.

@okazunga