BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – Competent public accountants are necessary for smooth delivery of public services, which, in turn, can guarantee peace in any society.
This was said by Civil Service Commission (CSC) Chairman Simanga Mamba, who is currently in Tanzania. He is part of the Second Annual Conference of the African Association of Accounts General (AAAG), which started on Monday (December 2, 2024) and is set to end on Friday (December 6, 2024). The conference focuses on professionalism in public finance. The conference is under the theme, ‘Building Public Trust in PFM Systems for Sustainable Growth.’
Mamba, who delivered a key-note address today (Wednesday, December 4, 2024), said competent accountants were the ones who would ensure that public funds were used in a good way. He said they were the ones who would ensure that members of the public got value for their money, by ensuring that taxpayers bought quality products that would be used to build quality infrastructure.
The CSC Chairman made an example of what happened in South Africa, according to one of the participants from that country, who also took part in the conference. Mamba said the South African participants stated that at some point, low quality incubators were bought in the neighbouring country, which led to the death of many children.
According to Mamba, under such circumstances, the integrity and competence of the public accountants and public auditors had to be questioned. This was because the low-quality incubators were bought with the taxpayers’ money and accountants approved such transactions. What also bothered Mamba was that such transactions were usually given clean audits.
Mamba said he was excited that the AAAG conference took place almost a month after the Association of African Public Service (AAPSCOMS) met in Kenya. The purpose of the meeting in Kenya, according to Mamba, was for them to find ways of building public services that would be efficient in their respective countries. As he listened to speeches and discussions made during the conference in Tanzania, Mamba said he felt that the same message was communicated.
He expressed hope that some of the discussions made by the public accountants would find their way to the AAPSCOMS, where he serves as a member of the executive committee. Mamba told the accountants that he would work towards ensuring that some of the decision that would be made by the accountants would be influenced at the level of their association, so that such decisions could be implemented in African countries.
The chairman pointed out that some of the decisions made at the AAAG Conference were to be implemented through the civil service commissions in African countries. Therefore, it was important for the chairpersons of African public service commissions to know and understand the importance of the decisions taken at the AAAG Conference.
Another factor that made Mamba to be excited to be part of the AAAG Conference was that it was going to foster unity in the African continent. He believed that what should happen in Eswatini should also happen in Tanzania, Tunisia, Nigeria Chad, and the rest of Africa. He said the meeting should influence the creation of a strong finance cadre in the African continent.
Mamba expressed happiness that the conference would also equip each other with knowledge, as the programme of the conference was touching on issues such as digital wealth, harnessing digital information, building trust in public finance. He asked himself if there was the capacity to ensure that all these things could be achieved.
He said the need to build a professional public finance sector was of paramount importance. Mamba argued that no country could develop without a stronger public service. He pointed out that all policies and manifestos of Governments were to be implemented by strong public services. He further mentioned that any political system depended on a stronger and reliable public service to be effective. Mamba said a stronger public service could be achieved only with the right attitude from civil servants.
Public servants should have the right skill set to ensure a strong public service was realised to ensure security of a country. He called upon legal frameworks to support technological advancement in African countries. Outdated schemes of services were inherited from colonial rules and were not relevant to present times. He said there was a high turnover of accountants who moved to the private sector because of terms and conditions of service in the public sector. He called upon such challenges to be addressed.
