Africa-Press – Zambia. HOME affairs minister Jack Mwiimbu says the Auditor General and officers under his office are not immune and can be removed. Rising on a point of order on Friday in reaction to leader of opposition in the House Brian Mundubile and Shiwanga’andu PF member of parliament Stephen Kampyongo over concerns of interference, micromanaging, and transfers of officers at the Auditor General’s office, Mwiimbu said Article 53 (4) of the Constitution stated among other things the Auditor General may resign from office or maybe removed under the same conditions as a judge of the High Court.
“Honourable Kampyongo and the leader of opposition made a statement when they were asking her honour the Vice-President [Mutale Nalumango] alleging that there is interference on the part of the Executive pertaining to the operations of the Auditor General and they quoted Article 252 of the Constitution which I am not going to quote but state that it talks about the Auditor General being in a position not to be influenced by any person of authority,” he said.
Mwiimbu said the opposition PF must stop misleading leading Zambians.
“Madam Speaker, they conveniently decided not to take note of the provisions of article Article 251 of the Constitution of Zambia. I was going to be contemporaneous but it is not allowed to raise issues when honour the Vice-President is debating. Madam Speaker, are they in order not to have taken into account the provisions of Article 251 of the Constitution of Zambia which states and I quote ‘Where the Auditor General is absent from Zambia or he is unable to perform the functions of the office due to illness or other calls, the President shall appoint a person qualified to perform the functions of the Auditor General until that appointment is revoked’,” he said. “Further , Article 53 (4) states that ‘the Auditor General may resign from office or maybe removed under the same conditions as a judge of the High Court.”
He said the debate of the two PF lawmakers was trying to show that the Auditor General could not be removed.
“Madam Speaker, in their discourse they are trying to show that there is no other authority that can take appropriate measures pertaining to the functions of the Auditor General. Are they not aware of these provisions that officers under the Auditor General can be removed? They have no immunity. The Auditor General can be removed by following the procedures. So are they in order to mislead themselves? The processes that have been undertaken by the Executive are within the confines of the law. Are they in order to mislead themselves? The officers they are talking about, Madam Speaker, have no immunity. They are civil servants like any other. Are they in order to mislead themselves and the nation because they are in a panic mode themselves?” asked Mwiimbu.
Speaker Nelly Mutti reserved her ruling so that she could study relevant documents.
“In view of the many documents that have been referred to which I don’t have access to, I will reserve my ruling,” said Mutti.
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