467 AUDIT ISSUES, K18.1 BILLION AT STAKE
TIZ demands action as unresolved audit findings raise fresh questions about how public money is being managed and whether citizens are getting value from it
By Francis Maingaila ♥️
Lusaka, Zambia24 — 5 October 2026 — Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) has challenged Government to act on 467 unresolved audit issues involving about K18.1 billion in public resources, saying the findings must lead to corrective action, recovery of funds where necessary, stronger systems and accountability for those responsible.
TIZ Executive Director Raymond Mutale said the organisation analysed the Auditor General’s Report on the accounts of the Republic of Zambia for the financial year ended 31 December 2024 to help citizens demand greater transparency and accountability in the use of public resources at both national and local level.
Mr Mutale said TIZ had changed the way it looks at Auditor General’s reports by ranking public institutions according to both the number of unresolved audit issues and the amount of money involved.
He said the organisation had developed a weighted Accountability Index which gives equal weight to the proportion of audit issues and the financial value attached to them for each ministry, province and spending agency.
Mr Mutale commended the Office of the Auditor General for improving the timeliness of its reports, saying the institution had made progress compared to previous years when audit reports could take several years to come out.
He said the Auditor General remained one of Zambia’s key accountability institutions because its reports give Parliament, citizens, civil society and law enforcement agencies important information about how public money is being handled.
“Our analysis identified 467 unresolved audit issues across 23 ministries, provinces and spending agencies,” Mr Mutale said.
He said the unresolved matters included 63 asset management issues, 59 payroll issues, 50 service delivery issues, 36 financial irregularities and 35 revenue loss issues.
Mr Mutale said the K18.1 billion attached to the unresolved audit issues was particularly worrying because it represented about 10.2 percent of the 2024 national budget.
He said these were not just figures on paper because behind every procurement irregularity, payroll problem, delayed project or poorly managed government asset was money that should have been used to improve the lives of citizens.
“Persistent weaknesses in public financial management therefore have direct consequences on citizens,” Mr Mutale said.
He said TIZ’s analysis found that a large number of the audit issues were concentrated in ministries whose work touches the daily lives of millions of Zambians, particularly Health, Education and Agriculture.
Using its Accountability Index, TIZ ranked the Ministry of Health first, followed by the Ministry of Finance and National Planning, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Agriculture.
The Ministry of Health recorded 102 unresolved issues valued at approximately K4.2 billion, while the Ministry of Finance and National Planning had 36 issues valued at approximately K6.2 billion.
The Ministry of Education recorded 68 issues valued at about K3.7 billion, while the Ministry of Agriculture had 61 issues valued at approximately K501.7 million.
Mr Mutale said the difference between the number of issues and the amount of money involved was important because a ministry could have fewer audit issues but still expose the country to a much bigger financial risk.
He said the Ministry of Finance and National Planning was a clear example, having fewer unresolved issues than Health, Education and Agriculture but carrying the highest monetary value.
“This indicates greater exposure to financial risk relative to the number of issues recorded,” he said.
ASSET, PAYROLL WEAKNESSES
Mr Mutale said asset management was the biggest category, with 63 unresolved issues.
He said the Ministry of Agriculture accounted for 23.8 percent of the asset management issues, followed by the Ministry of Health at 15.9 percent.
Payroll problems were particularly common in the Ministry of Health, which accounted for 27.1 percent of the payroll issues, followed by the Ministry of Education at 18.6 percent.
Mr Mutale said these problems could not simply be explained away every time an annual audit was completed.
He called for stronger systems to account for public land, buildings, motor vehicles and other government property, as well as tighter payroll controls to deal with ghost workers and payments for activities that did not exist.
LUSAKA LEADS PROVINCIAL DISTRIBUTION
Mr Mutale said TIZ had also looked at where the unresolved audit issues were concentrated across the country.
He said, among issues that could be matched to provinces, Lusaka Province accounted for 18.4 percent, followed by Southern Province at 8.3 percent and Western Province at 6.6 percent.
He said the analysis also showed that three of the four provinces with comparatively high numbers of unresolved audit issues were associated with ruling-party political strongholds.
Mr Mutale, however, cautioned that TIZ was not presenting this observation as proof of wrongdoing, but as an issue that needed further explanation.
He said the finding nevertheless showed why public procurement, empowerment programmes and the distribution of public resources must be protected from political patronage.
At district level, Lusaka District accounted for more than 26 percent of the 277 issues that could be matched to districts, followed by Mungwi, Kalomo and Kasama.
TIZ DEMANDS CORRECTIVE ACTION
Mr Mutale said TIZ was calling on Government to act on the audit findings, particularly in the Ministries of Health, Education and Agriculture.
He said these institutions could not continue appearing with recurring financial weaknesses without stronger accountability and measures to correct the problems.
TIZ also called for a thorough review of asset management systems, stronger payroll controls to eliminate ghost workers and fictitious payments, and action across public institutions to deal with weaknesses that affect service delivery.
Mr Mutale said the Ministry of Finance and National Planning also deserved close attention because of the unusually high amount of money attached to its unresolved audit issues.
He said institutions handling large amounts of public money needed stronger internal controls and integrity systems.
Mr Mutale warned against a situation where Auditor General’s reports cause public concern when they are released, only for the same problems to appear again in later reports.
He said accountability should not end with identifying an irregularity.
The real questions, he said, were whether the problem was corrected, whether public money was recovered, whether anyone was sanctioned where wrongdoing was established and whether the same problem came back the following year.
TIZ has therefore called on controlling officers to take personal responsibility for resolving audit issues.
The organisation also wants the Public Accounts Committee to carry out regular follow-ups, while investigative and law enforcement agencies should act promptly where audit findings provide reasonable grounds for investigations.
Mr Mutale said the K18.1 billion linked to unresolved audit issues should concern every Zambian because public resources were entrusted to government institutions to improve people’s lives.
“Every kwacha must therefore be traceable, properly accounted for and used for its intended purpose,” he said.
He said the Office of the Auditor General had done its part by identifying weaknesses, but the responsibility now lay with the affected institutions and other accountability bodies to ensure that the findings led to action.
Mr Mutale said TIZ would use the findings to engage relevant public institutions and local authorities, understand what was behind the problems, follow up on corrective measures and push for reforms to strengthen public financial management.
“Ultimately, Zambia does not lack information about where public financial management is failing. The challenge is turning audit findings into accountability, and accountability into reform,” Mr Mutale said.
He said TIZ would continue working with the Office of the Auditor General, Parliament, public institutions, law enforcement agencies, civil society organisations, cooperating partners, the media and citizens to protect public resources and ensure they are used for the services and development they were meant to deliver.
AUDIT FINDINGS MUST LEAD TO ACTION
Bright Chizonde, Advocacy, Policy and Research Manager at Transparency International Zambia (TI-Z), said the organisation’s analysis was only the beginning of a wider process that would involve engaging individual public institutions, examining follow-up reports and checking whether corrective action was being taken.
The Office of the Auditor General has stated that the 2024 report contains audit findings that remained unresolved at the end of the audit because satisfactory explanations had not been provided.
Chizonde said TI-Z would go beyond identifying audit problems and try to establish what happened within the affected institutions and, where evidence allows, who was responsible.
Chizonde said the organisation was not trying to do the work of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), but wanted to complement investigations by looking at the weaknesses that can make it possible for public resources to be abused.
“Our analysis is just the beginning,” Chizonde said.
He said TI-Z would engage individual institutions identified through the analysis to establish where mismanagement and misappropriation occurred.
Chizonde said this would help the organisation move from broad audit findings to the actual points where public services are delivered and where public resources may have been mismanaged.
He said holding individuals accountable was important, but removing one person from a weak system would not solve the problem if the same weaknesses remained.
“If systems are not strengthened, other individuals will be brought in and they will exploit the same weaknesses in the system,” Chizonde said.
He said TI-Z therefore wanted individuals to face consequences where wrongdoing was established, while the systems that allowed abuse to happen were also fixed.
AUDIT IS NOT A CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION
Mr Mutale said the public should also understand the difference between an Auditor General’s report and a criminal investigation.
He said an audit points out issues that require answers and corrective action, while a criminal investigation follows a separate process to establish whether an offence was committed and who may have committed it.
He said this distinction was important because an audit finding on its own did not mean that a criminal offence had been established.
Mr Mutale, however, said some audit findings could overlap with criminal investigations.
He cited the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services as one of the ministries that featured prominently in TI-Z’s analysis, noting that there had also been investigations involving the misuse of Social Cash Transfer funds.
RECURRING PROBLEMS A CONCERN
Chizonde said the repeated appearance of ministries such as Health, Agriculture and Community Development among those with significant audit issues should also be looked at in relation to their size, budgets and the number of services they provide.
He said large ministries handle large amounts of public money, employ many people and deal directly with citizens, giving them more areas where weaknesses can arise.
But Chizonde said the size and budgets of these ministries could not by themselves explain why audit problems kept coming back.
He said the failure to correct problems over a long period was itself a serious concern.
“While there are factors that can explain why we are seeing a high number of audit issues in these ministries, there is also a need for corrective action,” Chizonde said.
He said TI-Z would also follow institutions over time instead of looking at one Auditor General’s report in isolation.
Chizonde explained that not every public institution appears in the Auditor General’s report because institutions are generally included where unresolved audit issues have been identified.
He said this meant that an institution not appearing in the 2024 report should not automatically be taken to mean that everything was in order.
TI-Z intends to compare the 2024 findings with the 2025 Auditor General’s report once it is available to see which institutions are improving and which problems are continuing.
MEDIA MUST FOLLOW THE MONEY
Mr Mutale said the media also had a major role to play in making sure accountability did not end with headlines about the Auditor General’s report.
He urged journalists to follow the Parliamentary Accounts Committee proceedings and, more importantly, find out what happens after institutions are told to correct problems.
“We pay too much attention to the Auditor General’s report and forget to pay attention to the follow-up processes,” Mr Mutale said.
He said journalists should examine Parliamentary Accounts Committee reports to establish which officials had failed to provide satisfactory answers.
Mr Mutale also called for greater attention to outstanding issues reports and Treasury Minutes, saying these documents can show whether Government actually acted on matters raised through the accountability process.
“That is where the action is, not the Auditor General’s report,” Mr Mutale said.
He said the media should keep following the trail from the Auditor General’s findings, through parliamentary scrutiny, to what Government eventually does about the problems.
PROCUREMENT RISKS AFTER CONTRACT AWARD
On public procurement, Mr Mutale said one of Zambia’s biggest weaknesses was not necessarily how contracts were awarded, but what happened after the contracts had been awarded.
He explained that the Zambia Public Procurement Authority was a regulator responsible for ensuring that procurement rules and procedures were followed, rather than an institution that directly bought goods and services for Government.
Mr Mutale said more attention was needed after contracts were awarded, particularly when it came to implementation, payments and contract amendments, because this was where public funds could be exposed to abuse.
He said a contract could be awarded through a process that appeared to follow the rules, only for changes during implementation to push up the contract value without proper scrutiny.
“If no one is paying attention to what is happening after the contract is awarded, that is where things can happen,” Mr Mutale said.
He said Government and oversight institutions needed stronger capacity to monitor contracts from the time they were awarded until they were completed, rather than concentrating mainly on the bidding stage.
Chizonde said TI-Z had not yet carried out a separate analysis focused entirely on procurement, although procurement remained an area of high risk.
He said the organisation was working on procurement monitoring and would release its findings when the work was complete.
MINISTRY SIZE NEEDS FURTHER STUDY
On whether large ministries should be split into smaller institutions to reduce the concentration of funds and make supervision easier, Chizonde said the issue needed further study.
He cited the long-running debate over whether the Ministry of Education should remain one ministry or be divided into general and higher education as an example.
He said TI-Z could compare audit trends from periods when ministries were split and when they were combined to see whether the size of an institution had any real effect on accountability.
Chizonde said TI-Z would begin its follow-up work immediately after completing its analysis of the 2024 report.
He said the organisation would engage specific public institutions, examine follow-up audit reports and concentrate on areas where concerns were greatest.
The aim, he said, was to make progress before the next Auditor General’s report was analysed.
Chizonde said the arrival of the 2025 report would then give TI-Z an opportunity to compare the two periods and see whether previously identified problems had been dealt with or were still outstanding.
Mr Mutale said this would help build a picture of which ministries were improving and which ones were allowing the same problems to continue.
He said TI-Z would continue engaging institutions even after the next Auditor General’s report was released because the new analysis would provide more information on whether corrective measures were actually working.
The organisation’s approach comes as Parliament has also published the Public Accounts Committee report on the Auditor General’s report for the financial year ended December 31, 2024, providing another avenue for the audit findings to be followed up.
For TI-Z, the message is clear: the Auditor General can expose the problems and Parliament can demand answers, but accountability only means something when those answers lead to action, stronger systems and, where wrongdoing is established, consequences for those responsible.
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