Dept to keep watch over spending of public funds

By LUKE KAMA
THE Finance Department is looking at moving away from the role of writing Government cheques to playing more of an overseer and monitoring role, Secretary Dr Ken Ngangan says.
Ngangan said a division to do inspections and compliance work as well as auditing was being established in the department this year.
Finance Department officers will accompany officers from the Department of Implementation and Rural Development to start doing inspections, monitoring and compliance on expenditures of public funds throughout the country.
“Department of Finance, including other central agencies of Government, National Planning and Treasury Department will now be moving away from cheque-writing to more of a monitoring and oversight role in ensuring that public funds are managed well,” he said.
“Finance and Treasury will not be printers of cheques in Vulupindi Haus or the Treasury Haus anymore.
“We will shift that function to all sectors and agencies in which all funding are made under the budget.
“So those are directions and instructions that are clearly and succinctly made known to our staff.”
Ngangan said the Department had a finance inspections branch and an auditing branch and they will now carry out oversight in terms of checking expenditure at the agency level, provinces and districts.
“Starting this year, officers from Finance Department and the Department of Implementation and Rural Development will be visiting the provinces, districts and sector agencies to ensure that public funds allocated to them are spent well, according to the plans that have come to us.
“So those sector agencies, provinces and districts that are tasked to manage and deliver services using public funds, expect us at the agency level to do inspections on a regular basis,” he said.