Paul Nyathi|President Emmerson Mnangagwa has dismissed accountant-general, Daniel Muchemwa, for failing to manage public accounts.

The dismissal comes after Public Accounts Portfolio Committee Chairperson Tendai Biti of the opposition MDC recently told Parliament that Muchemwa was a lackadaisical man who did not know his functions.

Muchemwa, when he appeared before the Committee, failed to answer various questions and also confirmed that he did not do most of his duties which include preparing monthly, quarterly and yearly financial reports as well as issuing warranties to ministries since 2014.

Warranties are generally the authority given to Ministries to spend what would have been allocated to them from the national budget.

The accountant-general’s office, according to auditor-general Mildred Chiri’s reports, has also been failing to do basic things like reconciliations on its account, resulting in huge variances on its books of accounts, which are currently in a shambles.

Biti, said: “There is always a monster hidden if you take a look at government financials, which are in shambles. It’s a narrative of State failure. We find basic issues like failure to produce annual statements, monthly reports etc.

“There are so many vulnerables but I hear the accountant general has been fired because of failure to deal with weak internal financial controls. When the gatekeeper becomes the gatecrasher, we need to pray.”