Harare (New Ziana)-The office of the Auditor General has 125 vacant posts for critical staff needed to enable it to fulfil its mandate of auditing government Ministries, departments and agencies, an official said on Monday.
Acting Auditor General Rheah Kujinga told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public Accounts that the posts should be filled as a matter of urgency to enable the department to deliver.
“The office’s staff establishment is currently 381 with 256 members being in post resulting in 125 vacant posts to be filled. The filling of vacant posts is critical to enable the office to do a reasonable audit coverage and do justice to its mandate. The audit coverage includes to audit Ministries, departments and agencies, head offices and outstations in provinces and districts,” she said.
Kujinga said absence of the critical staff has seen the department outsourcing some audits.
“Also lack of capacity in terms of staff members has forced the office to outsource the audits of some local authorities and public entities,” she said.
She however expressed confidence that the new board appointed recently will ensure that key vacant posts are filled among other critical areas.
“These include the filling of critical posts and the creation of a performance audit or value for money department.
The critical posts that are required for the efficient running of the office include director of Information Technology, director human resources, director legal services, director procurement and director quality assurance. Staff to support these critical areas is also required.
“The office therefore intends to create and fill 78 posts for these functional areas. These critical posts need budgetary support,” she said.
Turning to the 2024 national budget, Kujinga said the stipulated Treasury budget ceiling of ZWL$41 billion would be inadequate.
“The stipulated budget ceiling is not sufficient to support the office’s strategic plan. The ideal expenditure budget for the office is estimated at ZWL$135 billion. This results in a total shortfall of ZWL$94 billion which the office prays for. This ideal budget would be about 0.3 percent of the 2024 national budget,” she said.
Kujinga said the office’s 2023 approved budget of ZW$10.4 billion was increased to ZWL$12.4 billion during the year.
“Out of this actual expenditure to 19 October 2023 is ZWL$10.5 billion (85 percent of revised budget. Though the office utilised 85 percent of the revised budget , it could not meet all the planned targets due to high inflationary prices of goods and services,” she told the committee.
New Ziana
