LILONGWE--Tax-payers were forced to spend millions of kwacha on a non-functioning Public Accounts Committee (PAC) after it suspended its proceedings pending further consultations on the absence of Auditor General.

The Auditor General Reckford Kampanje retired prematurely this month after a mismanagement scandal rocked his office, bringing many procedural questions to different processes.

PAC had summoned officials from Kasungu District Council to explain some audit queries last week but they were sent back after the committee realized that there was no Auditor General.

Committee meetings include officials from the Auditor General, Accountant General, Office of the President and Cabinet and Parliament, and it has powers to recommend punitive measures on abusers of public coffers, making it the most powerful committee in the legislature.

“We can’t meet as we have no idea what legally this means, we stopped the proceedings and we now are waiting for directions from the Parliamentary secretariat,” said an opposition member of parliament who sits on the committee.

Chairperson of the Committee Karonga North West MP Beatrice Mwangonde said the proceedings will resume after consultation.

The MPs, many of whom reside outside Lilongwe, are however still hanging around the capital claiming their allowances.

Did someone not get the memo from Minister of Finance about austerity?
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©2012 The Maravi Post. Reproduction without acknowledgment prohibited.