KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 — All government secretaries-general are required to attend a town hall session and respond to the weaknesses and irregularities in their respective ministries as exposed in the latest Auditor-General’s 2022 Report.

Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali said this move is to prevent repeats of past mistakes and to ensure the relevant officials take the findings seriously, Mingguan Malaysia reported today.

“All reports will be brought to me and the Cabinet and from there we will decide if said ministry has taken the appropriate action to address the problems so it is not repeated.

“This rule also applies for ministries that weren’t mentioned in the LKAN,” he was quoted as saying, using the Malay abbreviation for the Auditor-General’s Report.

Zuki said he would personally monitor the progress of the ministries, as requested of him by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Zuki also said that the Public Service Department (PSD) is required to hold its own town hall sessions and all secretaries-general must be in full attendance to scrutinise the issues raised and determine is they have been addressed.

He said some of the PSD’s issues have been dealt with, but a lot more are pending at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

“There were lots of punitive cases from which the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission have been involved and taken steps to address the issue.

“We did not make it public as yet but at these town hall sessions we will notify what action has been taken and at the moment all the secretaries-general have been told to attend these town hall sessions,” he was quoted as saying.

Yesterday, Zuki said the government is reviving the town hall sessions which will serve as a platform for ministries and their respective secretaries-general to inform the public about measures and actions taken in response to Auditor-General’s findings.

The Auditor-General’s 2022 Report released on November 22 showed public fund losses amounting to RM681.71 million in six government programmes after 16 performance audits conducted on 14 ministries involving a sum of RM208.882 billion.

The six programmes were identified as the Padi Planting Management Programme, the Langkawi Development Authority Property Development Management, the management and regulation of firearms of the departments and agencies under the Home Ministry; the management of the Marine Protected Area Conservation Programme, the Investment Promotion Programme for the Manufacturing Sector; and the management of the Safe City Programme.

Anwar called on all department heads, directors-general and secretaries-general to minute all discussions about the Auditor-General’s Report on November 6 before passing to over to the chief secretary.

The prime minister said the Auditor-General’s Report needed to be re-examined to improve administrative governance, in addition to being able to identify and help reduce leakages in the country’s administration.

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2023/12/03/chief-secretary-to-govt-says-all-ministerial-sec-gen-must-attend-town-hall-to-answer-auditor-generals-2022-findings/105514