Malawi’s Accountant General (AG) has contradicted Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe on the K5 billion allocated to Integrated Financial Management System (IFMIS) in the 2018/19 national budget.
When presenting the budget last week, Finance Minister Gondwe said the money was for procurement of the software.
“One notable project in the 2018-19 budget is the procurement of the new IFMIS which has been allocated an amount of K5.0 billion. Once the new software is installed, it is expected to enhance speed and security in processing government financial transactions. In addition, it will assist in expenditure tracking and bank reconciliations,” said Gondwe.
It was however revealed that government already purchased the software and that President Peter
Mutharika told a conference earlier this year that procurement of the software was finalised.
This raised questions regarding the aim of the K5 billion allocation in the budget.
Now, Accountant General Chrighton Chimombo has told the local media that the money is for training civil servants who willl be using the system.
He said the IFMIS system was already purchased but the MK5 billion in the 2018/2019 budget will be used to train users of the system.
Malawians have however still questioned the K5 billion allocation for training saying the figure has been bloated to allow government officials steal the money.
“Mk5bn to train users… Is it an aircraft or fighter jet of some kind?” said one Malawian on Facebook.
“Even if the new system requires training, do we need 5 billion for training in 12 months? what training is that? Please Malawi,” said another.
Thus the problem of keeping old people in bigger positions. They should pave way for the young generation. Otherwise we are tired of this.