Key takeaways
- Chikankata MP Jacqueline Sabao has been re-elected Deputy Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), unopposed.
- She will deputise for Solwezi Central MP Poho Kawina, the committee’s new chairperson.
- The 15-member PAC examines how money approved by Parliament is spent, working from the Auditor General’s reports.
- Its first major task is the 2025 audit, which flagged K3.56 billion in health arrears and K626.64 million in uncollected mining penalties.
Chikankata Member of Parliament Jacqueline Sabao has been re-elected Deputy Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the National Assembly’s main watchdog over public spending. No other member stood against her, so she was returned unopposed.
The vote keeps an experienced hand in the committee’s leadership as Parliament opens its new session. Sabao, of the United Party for National Development (UPND), was first elected for Chikankata in 2021 and took the oath for a second term on 8 September 2026.
She will serve alongside Solwezi Central MP Poho Kawina, who was elected chairperson, succeeding Warren Mwambazi.
What the committee does
The PAC has 15 members, appointed by the National Assembly at the start of every session. It examines the accounts that show how money granted by Parliament for public expenditure was used, together with the Auditor General’s report on those accounts and other accounts of the Republic.
The committee also exercises the powers given to it under Article 117(5) of the Constitution of Zambia. In practice, controlling officers from ministries, provinces and spending agencies appear before it to explain the queries the Auditor General has raised against them.
The deputy chairperson presides when the chairperson is absent and helps steer hearings, which can run across several weeks once the annual audit report is tabled.
A heavy agenda waiting
The new leadership inherits a full workload. The Auditor General’s 2025 report recorded K3.56 billion in health arrears and K626.64 million in mining penalties that had not been collected. It also found that only 374 of 947 planned new boreholes had been drilled.
These are the kinds of findings the PAC will take up with controlling officers. Its recommendations then go back to the Treasury, which reports on the action taken. For citizens, our plain-language guide to the 2025 audit sets out where the main problems lie.
Why it matters
Audit findings carry weight only when someone follows them up. The PAC is where that happens in public, and the continuity of Sabao’s role means at least one member of the leadership already knows how the hearings run and where previous queries were left unresolved.
Citizens can also ask questions of their own. The Access to Information Act lets anyone request the records behind a stalled project in their ward.
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