.MWALE

By NAKUBIANA SHABONGO –

THE Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday sent a delegation from the Judiciary away for failing to appear with summoned engineers from the Ministry of Transport, Works, Supply and Communication, to explain an audit query involving huge sums of money.
The delegation was previously sent away for failing to adhere to the committee’s instructions concurrently by appearing without engineers.
The Judiciary in 2012 carried out construction works of more than 70 local courts in all provinces around the country.
PAC Chairperson Vincent Mwale said the committee needed to find out how the Judiciary could construct more than 70 local courts which had cracks within a short period of time.
Mr Mwale, who is Chipangali Member of Parliament, wondered how qualified engineers could do shoddy works after spending colossal sums of money and that it was unacceptable for the Judiciary to ask for more resources to fix defects.
He warned that the committee would not allow defects and that engineers needed to explain why they failed to deliver.
The Committee held the Judiciary accountable for the poor works, in order to prevent the situation recurring in future and that the matter would come up once the engineers were available.
“We need engineers to come and explain why there are defects, last time you came we agreed that you would come with them so why is this happening again.
“We cannot continue without engineers giving the committee an explanation to why you need more resources for the same project. These are public resources that need to be prudently used,” he said.
Judiciary Chief Administrator Audwin Dzikamunenga said that the judiciary had communicated with the Ministry of Transport engineers to appear before the committee but wondered why they did not show up.
“We did our part by informing them that they needed to appear before PAC so we thought they would come,” Mr Dzikamunenga said.