Bill to curb corruption at Zim parastatals

Published: 26 July 2017

A BILL that will curb corruption at State enterprises and parastatals (SEPs) and hefty salaries of chief executive officers is now before Parliament.

Clerk of Parliament Kennedy Chokuda on Monday invited public comments on the Public Entities Corporate Governance Bill meant to regulate the management of parastatals in order to instil good corporate governance.

Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa (pictured) last week also told the National Assembly that the Public Entities Corporate Governance Bill would assist combat graft, which has often been unearthed by the Auditor-General Mildred Chiri.

"This Bill, by improving the internal management structures of parastatals and other public entities, should lead to an improvement in their performance," it reads.

"This Bill will apply only to public entities, not to organisations in the private sector."

If passed into law, the Public Entities Corporate Governance Bill will underline the responsibilities of line ministries to effectively monitor, supervise and oversee the management operations of public entities to ensure strict compliance by them with the provisions of the Bill.

"It will introduce some consistency in the conditions of service of members of boards of public entities. In particular, it will require members to enter into performance contracts with the government and will allow their salaries and allowances to be limited."

The Bill will also regulate the conditions of service for CEOs and other senior staff members of public entities and will limit their remuneration.

"It will give effect to the National Code on Corporate Governance Zimbabwe (Zimcode) to the extent that it applies to public entities," reads the Bill.

The Bill also proposes to limit terms of CEOs to 10-years.

Clause 47 of the Bill reads: "People who are CEOs of public entities on the commencement date will be permitted to continue in office until they have served for the maximum period allowed under the Bill, that is, for five years renewable once, and if they have already served that period they will cease to hold office six months after the commencement date."
- online

Tags: Parastatals,