OVER 400,000 PAYSLIPS TO BE ARCHIVED AND DIGITIZED

By Daily News Reporter

The Ministry of Finance and National Planning, in collaboration with the Electronic Government Division (SMART Zambia Institute), has initiated a groundbreaking project to archive and digitize over 400,000 paper-based payslips spanning five decades.

This ambitious endeavor covers payslips from 1972 to 1995 and from 1995 to the time the e-payslip was introduced, ensuring the preservation of crucial financial records for future reference.

And Director of ICT in the Ministry of Finance and National Planning, Mr. Beaton Sibulowa, stated that the payslips are not in the SMART Zambia e-payslip or the integrated Payroll Management and Establishment Control (PMEC) systems.

Meanwhile SMARTT Zambia Assistant Director of Service Management, Mr. Valentine Chitambala, add that the year 1995 was chosen because it is the year when many employees joined the civil service and are about to retire.

“By archiving and digitizing these payslips, the government aims to enhance record-keeping efficiency, promote transparency, and support informed decision-making. This project is a testament to the government’s commitment to embracing digital solutions to drive the innovation.

TIZ WORRIES ON THE INCREASE OF STRs

By Daily News Reporter

The Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) has noted more suspicious transaction reports (STRs) in 2023 as compared to 2022 and attributed the 78.97% increase to heightened supervision activities under the FIC’s Reports. Further, it is evident that the increase in value of reports received in 2023 can be attributed to the increase in the number of STRs and may not necessarily entail that the situation has worsened.

Speaking to the Media in Lusaka TIZ Chapter President Mrs. Priscilla Chikonde Chansa stated that for the very first time in 2023, the FIC analyzed more STRs than they received due to a special exercise undertaken to reduce the backlog of STRs.

Mrs. Chansa said that the banking sector has also continued to be the highest reporting sector and contributing the most to the increase in STRs, other sectors accounted for less than 3% of all the STRs received in 2023.

“This situation demands urgent corrective action. One of the most alarming trends identified in the 2023 report is the continued high use of cash in illicit transactions, which facilitates anonymity and makes tracking illegal activities more challenging,” Mrs. Chansa said.

And according to the report highlights the involvement of Prominent Influential Persons (PIPs) in corruption, particularly in public procurement processes, where overpricing, non-delivery, and conflicts of interest have remained prevalent.

The FIC disseminated 923 reports to Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) in 2023 as compared to 129 in 2022, the value attributed to these disseminations also increased from K5.83 billion in 2022 to K13.58billion in 2023.

Further, TI-Z also noted that the number of cases of suspected fraud and corruption disseminated by the FIC has been on the rise from 2021 to 2022.

Mrs. Chansa has urged the Government to provide sufficient financial support to the FIC to enable the Centre to continue the new trend of analyzing all the STRs received as this would allow for deeper assessments and credible multi-year comparatives.

“The FIC should urgently address the persistent skewed distribution of STRs through capacity enhancement, sensitization and the use of punitive sanctions,” Mrs. Chansa added.

Mrs. Chansa also noted that the Zambian government was not transparent concerning the state of public debt, despite calls from stakeholders challenging the escalated debt accumulation.

That they is lack of proactive action in allocating funds to the sinking fund amidst increased external debt unsustainability contributed to the external debt default in 2020.

This has led the Zambian people suffer loss in form of wasteful expenditure; including interest and penalties on unutilized public debt.