The Auditor General has revealed that the Lufwanyama District Commissioner opened a bank account to receive money from well wishers without authority and failed to account for K47,100 which was paid into it.
According to the Auditor General’s report for the year ended 2016, the Lufwanyama District Administration did not get authority from the Accountant General to open the said bank account.
“In February 2016, Lufwanyama District Administration opened a savings bank account with the National Savings and Credit Bank (NATSAVE) in Lufwanyama. The bank account was used to deposit funds received from well-wishers for public events in the district.
The following were observed: The bank account was opened without the authority of the Accountant General. The bank account was managed and controlled by the District Commissioner and details of signatories were not made available for audit. The Administration did not issue general revenue receipts to donors for various donations received. In this regard, it was not possible to ascertain whether deposits in amounts totalling K47,200 made in the account were the actual monies received.
Amounts totalling K47,100 were withdrawn during the year under review. However, there were no expenditure records to show how the cash drawn was used. A cash book was not maintained and consequently reconciliation statements were not prepared,” read the Auditor General’s report.
Meanwhile, an officer of the Copperbelt Province Office of the President was paid amounts totaling K224,564 despite being absent from duty without leave since September 2006.
“Terms and Conditions of Service No. 60 (a) and (b) requires that an officer absent from duty without leave for a continuous period of ten (10) or more working days shall be liable for dismissal. Further, the officer shall not be paid a salary for the period he/she is absent from duty without leave. Contrary to the Terms and Conditions, no disciplinary action had been taken against an officer who had been out of station for 128 months from September, 2006 to June, 2017 without authority and the officer remained on the payroll during the said period. It was not possible to ascertain the total amount that was paid to the officer for the whole period she was absent from duty due to lack of records for period from September 2006 to March 2010. However, during the period from April 2010 to June 2017 the officer was irregularly paid salaries in amounts totalling K224,564,” read the report.