IMPLEMENTING SADCOPAC CONFERENCE RESOLUTIONS: the Case of Zambia Presented by Hon Vincent Mwale, Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee of Zambia, Kampala, Uganda May, 2013

Capacity Building for PAC Members Every PAC must ensure that all its Members including new ones have the relevant knowledge & skills. In this vein, All members of the PAC were oriented in their role with the support of the Auditor-General of Zambia in 2012 Six(6) members attended a SADCOPAC organised training workshop for new MPs in December, 2012 in Lilongwe Malawi.

PAC Should Support the independence of the Supreme Audit Institution The Zambian PAC enjoys a good work relationship with the Office of the Auditor-General. All PAC Members are encouraged to be goodwill ambassadors for the AG both in the House and in other fora. PAC Members are chief advocates to have the budget of the AG increased & to push for laws that promote and protect the office of the AG

Value for Money Audits Value for money audits must be adopted as part of the accountability process & this must be supported by the PAC In Zambia, the Auditor-General has produced several value for money audits some of which have been tabled and debated in Parliament. However, due to the heavy workload of the PAC, these reports have been referred to relevant portfolio committees for consideration. The wish of the PAC is to have a role to play in these reports as they are very important to ensuring effective and efficient management of public funds.

Value for Money Audit Cont’d Through our engagement with the AG, various areas of concern when dealing with the Financial Audit Reports are considered which include a suggestion to the AG to conduct further audits in terms of Performance Audits.

Procurement Audits In Zambia, procurement audits are an integral part of financial audit reports. Procurement is the major component of the issues we deal with in the report of the Auditor General.