Zambia: TBZ Board Dissolved

Source from:  Times of Zambia 01/16/2012

THE Government has dissolved the Tobacco Board of Zambia (TBZ) board and suspended three senior officials at the organisation. Agriculture and Livestock Minister Emmanuel Chenda announced at a Press briefing in Lusaka yesterday that the action has been taken following observations made by the Auditor General in the review of the operations of the board. The minister has since directed that a forensic audit be conducted immediately. "My ministry has in tandem with the Patriotic Front (PF) policy of zero tolerance on corruption and misuse of public resources decided to act on the report of the Auditor General on the operations of TBZ. "This is in the review of the operations of the Tobacco Board of Zambia for the financial years ended March 31, 2005 to 2010,"he said. The minister has suspended the board secretary, the financial and administrative manager and the operations manager. "I want to emphasise that the action I have taken are designed to send a message to all serving in public institutions that appropriate action will be taken against those found wanting. The time when audit reports counted for nothing are over because the Government will work tirelessly to eliminate the misuse of public resources," he said. Mr Chenda explained that the observations in the report made it desirable that a thorough forensic audit be undertaken to establish what transpired so that corrective measures could be taken to protect public resources. "Year in and year out Zambians from various walks of life have lamented the fact that even when the Auditor General has exposed serious irregularities in the use of public resources, no action is ever taken by the supervisory authorities. We in the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock have decided that this can not go on, it must stop," he said. Enditem