Malvern Nkomo Business Reporter
FINANCE, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube yesterday launched the risk management guidelines and framework for public entities, which are expected to improve efficiencies in the deployment of taxpayers’ money.
He said the efficient utilisation of public resources would drive progress towards the attainment of the national vision of upper-middle-income status by 2030.
Minister Ncube exhorted public sector departments and parastatals to adopt the guidelines and framework to improve the quality of service delivery and grow the economy.
Speaking at the launch of the risk management guidelines and framework, Minister Ncube, said in terms of the new system, Government departments were expected to do evaluation of the progress in terms of reducing mismanagement and risks to safeguard public resources.
He also said annual reports will be published, which will also be made available to the general public in order to improve honesty and transparency across all Government departments.
“We expect the chief accounting officers, who are the permanent secretaries in various Government departments and other senior people, working with the internal auditors, to do an evaluation of the progress in terms of mismanagement in their departments.
“So on an annual basis, we will be expecting reports on progress in risk management processes across all government departments,” the minister said.
“We want to understand the risks that are being taken and the risks that are being faced and also look for risk mitigation measures and as from 2024, the work starts and we should expect these reports thereafter going forward,” he said.
“This policy framework seeks to address the following issues, the first one being our reputation. Each government department should be concerned about its reputation as it impacts on the government’s image.
“As such the quality of our services to the people of Zimbabwe is of paramount importance,” he said.
“The other issue is financial prudence. The funds we utilise as Government are public funds and this requires transparency and there is a need to manage costs to remain competitive whilst delivering well-managed projects on time and within budget.
“Other risks are also found in terms of quality service delivery, risks in project implementation, and all these issues are what this framework is all about.
“Within this framework, Government departments will have to adhere to ethical standards and never undertake work that compromises their financial solvency. The framework will also set a standard in governance to ensure uniformity in implementing risk management across all Government departments,” he said.
“The idea is that we must continuously improve service delivery from the Government and these annual audit reports should be anticipated. These reports will be available to the public and we expect this to bring a better Government, better service delivery, and better management of risks overall for what the Government is trying to do, which is to get to Vision 2030,” the minister added.
In a bid to improve public procurement and service delivery, the Zimbabwean Government established the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe in 2018, which has also reduced Government losses from procurement corruption and other illicit financial flows.
This year, over the three months to June 2023, PRAZ revealed that the evaluation and audits of public contracts saved the Government US$102 million.
The Government also introduced an electronic government procurement system this year, which generally reduces human interference in the awarding of tenders and thus overall reduces corruption.
“Risks never wait for us so we have to start now the implementation of this new framework for managing risks and guidelines dealing with enterprise-wide risks in government.
“We want to encourage all Government departments to adopt the framework and even refine it and customise it for their own use but we expect everyone to implement an enterprise risk management framework going forward.
“Risk management starts now. It’s not a time-framed issue but it is an ongoing issue because risks are there every time you engage in an operation,” Minister Ncube said. – The Herald
