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Secretary to Cabinet Rowland Msiska has said there was need to revise key policy and strategic documents to make them conform with the electoral cycle and for them to benefit all Zambians.
Dr. Msiska said programmes such as the Six National Development Plan (SNDP) should actively continue even when there was a change of government.
He was speaking in Lusaka today when he officiated at a workshop for the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) /African Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (AFROSAI) Management Development Programme (MDP) roll out to the office of the Auditor General.
He said aligning policies with the electoral cycle was a standard trend in developed countries such as United States of America and France where a president elect cannot be sworn in without first completing the policies and plans of the previous term or regime.
Dr. Msiska added that it was therefore important that government advances issues that the general citizenry demanded for in order to foster sustainable development.
The Secretary to Cabinet further said there was need to innovate and implement programmes that would secure the much needed skills and benefit the nation.
He said it was not good to have other countries taking up programmes which are started by Zambia and run them as their own.
Dr. Msiska stressed that government had a good vision for the public service just as it is written in the Patriotic Front (PF) manifesto.
And Auditor General Anna Chifungula said her office will strive to be professional in order to realise its vision and mission of promoting accountability in the management of public resources in Zambia.
Ms. Chifungula said training auditors in modern management and leadership skills would help them perform their roles effectively and also enhance the operations of her office.
She further said that her office would also train staff to improve performance in areas such as the use of technology and the new audit methodologies.
Meanwhile, Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) member Mwansa Mbulakulima has said the committee will continue to support all efforts aimed at increasing the capacity of the Auditor General’s office to ensure it performed its mandate effectively.
Mr. Mbulakulima said most of the committee’s work depended on the Auditor General’s reports hence the need to have a good working relationship to ensure public sector accountability.
And AFROSAI-E Chief Executive Wessel Pretorius said there was need to reposition auditing offices in the country to address the negative image that was held by various stakeholders.
Mr. Pretorius said stakeholders’ expectations were high and it was therefore vital to plan and strategize on ways of how to raise awareness on the benefits of the Auditor General’s office.
The Management Development Programme (MDP) aims at covering both technical and managerial aspects of capacity building and focuses on three management levels in the Supreme Audit Institutions of AFROSAI-E.
