We have made recommendations in regards to the audit report for 2017-18 and we are now working on 2018-19.
Investigative agencies should get the reports prepared by House committees and swiftly act on them. That way, we reduce cases of recurring audit queries.
The report at hand is the latest for 2019-20. I do not want to preempt what is contained in the report.
The committee will give it due attention, objectively look at it and make recommendations, including calling on the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to take up the matter.
We have been dealing with these issues from 2017 but we shall still look at them thoroughly.
In the previous reports that the Public Account Committee concluded and tabled in the National Assembly, we called on the EACC and in other instances the DCI to probe any form of fraud, flawed procurement and financial impropriety.
In some instances, we have recommended accounting officers be surcharged for omissions that have cost taxpayers' money. In some cases we have called on investigative agencies to institute criminal proceedings against officers found culpable.
As a watchdog committee, our mandate is to ensure that the queries raised by the Auditor General are answered to the satisfaction of the taxpayers, who are represented in Parliament by their elected leaders.
Every coin that is approved by the National Assembly in the budget must be accounted for by the Executive.
Accounting officers in ministries and state agencies should ensure that all monies allocated to them are expended for the intended purposes.
The habit of diverting funds is misapplication and should be dealt with.
Government officers should stick to the budget and desist from diverting taxpayers' money for other endeavours.
Corruption cases should be dealt with swiftly and no one should be spared.
As a committee, I commit that as we have done before, we will look at all the audit queries and place the responsibility on the concerned officers who plunder public resources.
Corruption is the main reason we are stagnating as a country in terms of development.
Chairman of Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly spoke to the Star