Africa-Press – Zambia. Secretary to the Treasury Felix Nkulukusa ha said that political interference in the procurement process has led to companies being paid for projects they have not fully implemented.
Mr Nkulukusa said that this practice has consequently weakened Zambia’s macro economic performance because of lack of transparency therefore making budget credibility weak.
Mr. Nkulukusa said that Zambia’s transparency score over the years has been very low with public participation recording 20 out of 100 while budget oversight being 46 out of 100. Mr. Nkulukusa said that regional comparisons have shown that Zambia only managed to beat Malawi in budget transparency scoring 30 out of 100.
Making a presentation on Zambia’s economic performance to local authority officials from about 33 councils from Eastern, Lusaka and Central Provinces in Chongwe today, Mr. Nkulukusa said lack of citizens’ involvement in the budget process has led to abuse of resources thereby affecting its implementation.
He said the new dawn government is, therefore, sealing off such loopholes through the decentralisation process of giving citizens the authority to decide on areas that CDF will be used.
Mr Nkulukusa also stated that weak oversight and political interference especially in the procurement process has also contributed to weakening the economy as there has NOT been enforcement from the Zambia Public Procurement Agency (ZPPA).
He said weak internal controls and oversight have resulted in over procurement with institutions like the National Road Fund Agency -NRFA- having contracted over 1-thousand projects worth over 1-hundred billion kwacha against an annual allocation of 3-billion kwacha.
Mr Nkulusa said these challenges have led to unstable macroeconomic environment leading to increased borrowing thereby affecting fiscal stability. He, however, said Zambia has to reposition its development strategy to avoid borrowing more which will worsen the situation.
Mr. Nkulukusa said the country needs to undertake structural reforms of key sectors, provide fiscal incentives to promote investments and trade, taking advantage of its neighbouring countries as markets.
And, Ministry of Local Government Permanent Secretary Technical Services Wisdom Bwalya said the team participants have been engaged in discussions the past few days. Mr. Bwalya added that he wants the existing animosity between management of the councils and unions to end through harmonization.
The PS further noted that he will not take kindly the unions harassing the principal officers while calling on the principal officers to respect the unions because he wants both parties to move together.
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