Skip to main content

OAG 2018 Report for Local Authorities (Intro)

I am excited that the 2018 OAG Report on Local Authorities has finally been published. I've been waiting for it! And judging from Tweets and other write ups on various social media platforms, I wasn't the only one.

As soon as I am through with going through the reports, I will then give my independent analysis and comments thereon.

For today, I just want to comment briefly on  what I came across that depicts the excitement and speed with which we have rushed to talk about the long awaited report.

First up, a Chronicle report on the Bulawayo City Council report. The heading in a nice,big bold font spoke of a $434,450 car loan. Half a million. The report itself spoke of $34,450. Whilst this was an obvious typo, from which none of us are immune, it speaks to the quality of editing, to which all of us should be immune. The same Chronicle report also cited the Kusile RDC as contravening a section of the Urban Councils Act. Why not? RDC's are governed by the Rural District Councils Act. I will check if this is another typo or if they really did contravene a section of their own act. We were all so excited!

Open Parly commented on the Harare City Council report. The report made reference to the contravention of section 290 (even though they did not cite it). Storm in a tea cup if you ask me. Why? As was rightly said, this was from 2014 to November 2018. Previous reports during for that period have made mention of this, so the 32 million is not very new to consistent readers of these reports.

Lastly, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Info tweeted that the audit reports vindicated the country's president since he is the one who appointed the Auditor General. We tried to tell him that this was not true, but he chose not to respond to this particular correction. Why would one want to misrepresent facts in the public domain?

That's it folks. The real analysis is coming. Stay tuned.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What Can Local Authorities Do About Youth (Un)Employment?

In this sequel to “Next Generation Report 2020 – What Can Local Authorities Do?” we continue with an analysis of how our local authorities can play critical roles in assisting the young people of Zimbabwe with regards to the socio economic challenges that they face. The New Generation report touched on Employment, which is the focus of this article. Issues raised in the report 1.        High levels of unemployment 2.        Growth of the informal sector in the past 10 years 3.        Limited capacity   in the country to absorb new entrants in the job market 4.        The country has failed to create an enabling environment for enterprises to thrive and create jobs 5.        The country has experienced persistent deindustrialisation and the informalisation of the economy 6.        24%...

Local Government Audit Review

First Published in my LinkedIn Account on 15 November 2018. I have gone through the Audit Reports tabled before the Parliament of Zimbabwe by the Office of the Auditor-General (OAG).  An effective public sector audit activity strengthens governance by materially increasing citizens’ ability to hold their government accountable. Auditors perform an especially important function in those aspects of governance that are crucial in the public sector for promoting credibility, equity, and appropriate behavior of government officials. Because government’s success is measured primarily by its ability to deliver services successfully and carry out programs in an equitable and appropriate manner, government audit activities should have the authority and the competency to evaluate financial and program integrity, effectiveness, and efficiency. Moreover, auditors must also protect the core values of the government, as it serves all citizens ( http://agendasonline.greatersudbury.ca/index.cfm...

Welcome To My Blog

Hallo there I have written a number of articles and published them on LinkedIn, but now I have decided to blog seriously. So, welcome to it! Having this blog is partly as a result of my recent collaboration with Afrobloggers and I am joining a dynamic team of passionate bloggers. This blog is entitled Enhancing Local Government Accountability and I will blog about those issues that affect you and I with regards our local authority, community engagement as well as community development. I will have two types of blogs; structured reviews of local authorities' audit reports as well as ad hoc opinions on our everyday issues. Please feel to comment and engage. You can follow me on Twitter @bukhosim or follow The Municipal Review @municipalreview or drop me an email on moyobh@munrev.com Adios