Gender ministry taken to task over unretired imprest

By Ann Zulu

THE Parliamentary Accounts Committee last week took the Ministry of Gender and Child Development to task for failing to retire imprest amounting to K132, 767 on a workshop which never took place.

Permanent secretary Edwidge Mutale

The Ministry’s permanent secretary, Edwidge Mutale, appeared before the committee to respond to various irregularities in the ministry as reported in the Auditors General’s Report for the year 2015.

According to the report, in February 2015 the Ministry of Gender and Child Development paid a total of K132, 767 as subsistence allowances to various officers for attending two workshops to review job description and training needs assessment purportedly held at Ndozo Lodge in Chilanga district.

However, a verification carried out in June 2016 at Ndozo Lodge revealed that no such workshops were held at the lodge, hence the amount paid was irregular and therefore recoverable from the officers.

Ms. Mutale told the committee that the ministry had so far managed to recover K8, 010 and that the balance of K124,757 was being recovered from the officers through the payroll.

Asked by Solwezi West parliamentarian Teddy Kasonso whether the Ministry had taken any other disciplinary action against the officers apart from payroll deductions, the PS admitted that there had been no disciplinary actions against the officers.

She said the Ministry had dealt with the issue administratively and that no third party such as the police would be involved.

Ms. Mutale reiterated that the remaining balance would be recovered through the payroll.

“The sum of K8, 010 has been recovered and the balance of K124, 757 is being recovered from the officers through the payroll. We have not taken any further disciplinary action against the officers and we will not report the matter to the police, instead we will deal with it administratively because we have procedure that we need to follow,” Ms. Mutale said.