By CHARITY MOONGA –

THE Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday sent away Finance permanent secretary Felix Nkulukusa for late submission of responses to the audit query from the Auditor General’s office for the Zambia State Insurance Corporation (ZSIC) Group.
The ZSIC Group has been cited for financial mismanagement in the audit report for the financial year ending 2012.
The committee heard that in 2010, ZSIC’s data migration server crushed on the computer system of the insituttion and to retain its functionality, the organisation had to purchase 300 anti-virus software at a cost of K17, 372.
The anti-virus was to be installed on 300 computers but at the time of audit in 2012, only 92 computers had received the anti-virus leaving 208 unmanaged computers resulting in wasteful expenditure.
But during the submission, Chama north Patriotic Front MP January Zimba said the evidence that Mr Nkulukusa was submitting was contrary to what the members had received prior to the appearance of ZSIC Group before the committee.
Mafinga MMD MP Catherine Namugala also said that she had only received an attachment on Mr Nkulukusa and the ZSIC Group team.
PAC chairperson Vincent Mwale said it was sad that the ZSIC Group had continued to be cited for serious financial mismanagement in Auditor General’s reports.
He cautioned the controlling officer against delays in making submissions to the committee and sent the team away to prepare better for the next appearance.
Mr Nkulukusa and ZSIC should liase with the office of the clerk at parliament and agree on a date when they could appear before the committee again.