BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – Eswatini should start recording and reporting all of its public assets, if it wants to drastically improve its economy.
This was said by Tanzania’s Accountant General (AG) Leonard Mkude today when he met Civil Service Commission (CSC) Chairman Simanga Mamba. Mkude was being introduced by the country’s Accountant General (AG) Nomsa Simelane to the CSC commissioners and officials, including Mamba.
Mkude said the country should take stock of all the assets it has and report them accurately. By so doing, at the end of the day, the country would find that its economy would improve drastically. He made an example of Mauritius, saying 20 years ago, the South-East African island nation only relied on sugar cane for its economy.
When Mauritius took stock of the assets it had, it then found out that it could make money from sectors such as tourism. He that undertaking significantly improved Mauritius’ economy. Mkude told the gathering that the adoption of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSASs) could help the country to be able to record and report all of its assets.
He mentioned that such standards were earlier adopted by developed countries such as Australia, USA, and some few jurisdictions from Europe. After the adoption by these countries, the IPSASs became a global issue. He said these standards brought the economic visibility of the country, so that the auditor general would also have the visibility of the country to give proper advice to the relevant authorities.
He also described public accountants as a bridge between policy makers of the country and the voters. He said they acted as people who guarded the public finances on behalf of the voters and to give the voters the confidence that their money was safe with the accountants.
AG Nomsa Simelane believed that the presence of her counterpart from Tanzania was going to help improve the standard of work for the public accountants. She said the two countries would continue to exchange knowledge in this regard.
