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News / NationalMudenda warns MPs on govt lootingby Staff reporter2 hrs ago |142ViewsSpeaker of the National Assembly, Jacob Mudenda, has called on parliamentarians to maintain a “vigilant oversight” role in monitoring government expenditure, warning that well-connected individuals and entities-some with links to Zanu PF-are engaging in the theft of taxpayers’ money, often through inflated tenders and corrupt procurement practices.Mudenda’s remarks come in the wake of multiple audit reports exposing systemic corruption and inefficiency within government ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs), which have been found to misappropriate public funds through inflated contracts and procurement schemes.Speaking at the pre-budget seminar in Bulawayo, Mudenda reminded lawmakers that Parliament’s duties go beyond simply approving the Finance and Appropriation Bills.
He stressed that Parliament’s role also includes preventing the pillaging of State coffers and ensuring that taxpayer funds are used effectively and for the benefit of the public.”It is not just about approving budgets. It also demands vigilant monitoring of budget implementation, including resource disbursements and procurement processes, as well as the outcomes and outputs of public expenditure, which should be anchored on the value-for-money principle,” Mudenda said.He further pointed to Section 315 of the Constitution, which mandates that procurement procedures must be “fair, justifiable, transparent, and rigorously cost-effective” in order to safeguard public resources from wasteful spending and malfeasance.
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