By Unfortunately, the Old adage biting more than what you can chew came to a reality, #MondayBlues can confirm
The name Mildred Chiri sends chills in the corridors of corruption, her works in the economy especially the ICT sector will leave an indelible mark and a vacuum that can never be filled.
She had uncovered just about too much dirt and corruption, year in year out, her audit reports exposed the bad apples which only deserved a place in the dustbin, unfortunately not all bad apples could be dumped.
Her latest report which touched some top officials in the office of the president and some senior government officials including the State Procurement Board pushed for their ouster, unfortunately, tables got turned, big names which yours truly could not mention, but still it was not to be so.
Had it not been for her brave face she has putting to expose and produce reports as they are with softening their stance, we would never had known the actual position of most state owned entities in Zimbabwe.
However, her recent sacking “Mafia Style” leaves a lot to be desired and citizens are still in a state of shock.
Government’s recent move to relief Auditor General Mildred Chiri of her duties has been met with mixed reactions with the majority of the corporate world and the general population at large questioning the motive behind the whole story especially considering her term was still years from expiring.
Chiri’s sacking paves way for Mike Ndudzo, who has headed the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) since 1991.
Although some individuals like axed NetOne boss Reward Kangai could be smiling from a corner or popping champaign over Chiri’s demise, her removal from the post puts the Zimbabwe constitution under the spotlight.In terms of the new Constitution, Chiri could only be fired from government service during the subsistence of her contract only on the basis of inability to perform her functions either due to physical or mental incapacity.
Chiri has been in her position since 2004 and the new Constitution limits the Auditor General to two terms of six years each, it emerged that she was handed a new six-year contract in 2013.
However, Chiri’s ouster according to former Finance minister Tendai Biti could have been pushed by her recent Audit report she published in June this year in which she exposed more fraud, corruption and mismanagement of public funds by government ministries and departments, State enterprises, local authorities and statutory funds.
According to the Financial Gazette, Chiri’s latest report, released in June this year, was also critical of the Office of the President and Cabinet, which she said had mismanaged statutory funds under its purview, including the District Development Fund, as well as mishandling tenders.
Chiri was appointed as Comptroller and Auditor-General on February 24, 2004. She holds a Bachelor of Accounting degree from the University of Zimbabwe and is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries. She is also a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and the Institute of Certified Public Accountants (CPA) as well as a registered public accountant.
Chiri joined the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General as an audit assistant in 1983 before rising to the position of Comptroller and Auditor General.
On her appointment, she managed to clear an audit backlog which had lagged behind since 2000. She was current with her reports, some of which were tabled before Parliament ahead of the statutory deadlines.
In addition, her annual reports had been reformatted to include key audit findings.
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