Mwanakatwe calls for speedy payment of workers’ salaries

Wed, 21 Feb 2018 14:59:03 +0000

By EDWARD MWANGO

FINANCE Minister, Margaret Mwanakatwe has directed top management at the Ministry of Finance to develop a sustainable plan for timely payment of salaries to public service workers.

Ms. Mwanakatwe made the directive during her first strategic visioning meeting with top management in the Ministry of Finance, yesterday.

Ms Mwanakatwe, formerly Commerce Minister who has replaced Felix Mutati as Finance Minister, also requested her team to formulate a plan for offsetting domestic arrears in a systematic manner in order to help dismantle the K9 billion domestic debt.

She restated governments concern with the perception of corruption in some public offices and urged her team to ensure that the Ministry of Finance demonstrated and practiced transparency and accountability in the discharge of treasury and economic management functions.

“This Ministry is key and must play its role in assuring the public that the perception of corruption which has been appended to some public offices will be addressed,” she said.

Ms. Mwanakatwe called for hard work at all levels of the Ministry to ensure that the country reaches Growth Domestic Product [GDP] in excess of 5% and so that the benefits of growth begin to trickle down to the citizenry.

The Minister also commended the top management team at the ministry for ensuring that economic stability was attained while reiterating the consensus of Cabinet to improve domestic resource mobilisation.

She asked her top management team to ensure that the actions and performance of the Ministry of Finance met people’s expectations.

“We have an economy to run, we have an economy to protect, we have an economy to grow,” she said, adding that “we have to intensify our domestic resource mobilisation while at the same time developing sustainable plans for concessional, cost-effective, and value for money external resource mobilisation.”

Speaking during the same meeting, Secretary to the Treasury Fredson Yamba disclosed that the Ministry of Finance was formulating a plan to deal with the obligations that the country will have to fulfil as the Eurobonds fall due.

Mr. Yamba assured the Minister that plans were also underway to dismantle domestic arrears and timely pay public service workers.

Those in attendance at the meeting were Mr Yamba, Permanent Secretary for Economic Management and Finance Mukuli Chikuba, Permanent Secretary for Budget and Economic Affairs Dr. Emmanuel Mulenga PAMU, Accountant General Dr. Dick Chellah Sichembe, and Controller of Internal Audit Joyce Sundano. Others in attendance were Treasury Counsel Kawama Goma-Simumba, and Director [HRA] Joyce Nyama.

This is according to a statement availed to the Daily Nation by Ministry of Finance Spokesperson, Chileshe Kandeta