Will new Zinara brooms give nation a reason to believe again?
Harare- THE new management and board at Zimbabwe National RoadAuthority (Zinara) face a Herculean task to rebuild goodwill at the scandal ridden entity and Monday is their day to redeem themselves after been summoned by Parly’s Public Accounts Commitee(PAC).
The board and management will be guests to PAC where they are obliged to submit oral evidence on how the State run entity has implemented the commitee’s reccomendations following a scathing forensic audit conducted by Grant Thornton and unearthed massive corruption which benefited senior government officials, management and board members.
These beneficiaries ammased a lot of wealth with the former chief executive Frank Chitukutuku erecting an expensive pre-cast wall and palisade fence at his farm and acquiring a fleet of luxurious vehicles.
Recently appointed board chairperson George Manyaya and management led by chief executive Nkosinathi Ncube will appear before the Brian Dube led PAC .
Guided by the Grant Thornton audit report and Auditor General Mildred Chiri findings, PAC recommended that Zinara stick to its mandate of managing the Road Fund and be “explicitly disallowed from the purchase of road construction material and equipment”.
This was after they purchased graders, jet patchers ,fuel and construction material at inflated prices .
PAC also called for greater transparency on disbursements made by Zinara.
The committee recommended that Zinara invest more resources on monitoring of internal controls of road authorities and training personnel to ensure that disbursed funds are being used effectively.
On human resources and administration, PAC recommended that Zinara establish minimum qualifications and standards for key positions.
This was triggered by the appointment of former director of operations F Murove who was underqualified and boasted of a diploma in Biblical Studies from Africa Multination for Christ College and was personally interviewed by Chitukutuku.
He rose to the position in one year and authorised unjustified payment of astonishing allowances to board mmbers .
It however remains to be seen how the new board led by the youthful chairman and corporate governance expert Manyaya will present on what they have achieved so far.
