THE office of the Auditor General (OAG), in partnership with Transparency International Zambia (TIZ), has released a simplified version of the 2023 audit report, revealing widespread misuse of public funds across several government ministries and agencies.
The Ministry of Health, charged with protecting the nation’s well-being, seems to have taken an overly generous approach to payroll management, having spent a staggering K20.7 million on retired employees who, by all accounts, should have been home resting, tending their gardens, or enjoying quiet mornings rather than clocking in for a job they technically no longer had.
Additionallly, another K3.3 million in the Ministry found its way to the pockets of individuals who had formally resigned, raising the question of whether the ministry was running a health service or an unofficial ‘pension-plus-plus’ scheme for the absent and departed.
Meanwhile, over to the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services, the mission to support vulnerable populations went amusingly off-track as the ministry overpaid K72 million to households that were not eligible for disability benefits, while actual intended beneficiaries were left behind.
According to the 2023 simplied Audit report released by the OAG, the same Ministry took its farming support programme a step backwards by distributing poor-quality farming inputs that were also ineffective, resulting in low harvest of maize.
“Ministry of Community Development made K72 million in overpayments to non-disabled households and distributed poor-quality farming inputs,” the report read.
The Ministry of Education, ironically the one teaching fiscal responsibility in theory, saw K1.5 billion go into stalled school construction leaving students without proper classrooms and also millions more were spent on software that no one can log into.
Furthermore, Ministry of Justice racked up a mountain of over K3.4 billion in unpaid legal liabilities, a situation that puts them at risk of being sued for not paying debts related to cases they’ve already lost or settled.
“Ministry of Justice had unpaid legal liabilities exceeding K3.4 billion,” the audit report stated.
And finally, the Ministry of Energy, allegedly had flawed contract agreements leading to the loss of nearly US$2 million, not through power outages or fuel leaks but through ink-on-paper blunders that turned into black holes for the budget.
“Ministry of Energy lost nearly US$2 million due to contract flaws,” revealed the report.
By George Musonda
Kalemba April 17, 2025
