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Parliamentary Oversight of Finance: Ensuring Accountability in Public Expenditure

Author: Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Secretariat
Date: 2001
Size: 19 pages (16 KB)

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Summary

Why is legislative oversight of the law-making process important and how can legislative oversight be ensured? These and other issues were tackled by a three-day workshop on 'Parliamentary Oversight of Finance and the Budgetary Process'. Organised by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and the World Bank, the workshop was held in Nairobi, Kenya during December 2001. It was attended by parliamentarians, Auditors General, and representatives of international organisations and civil society. The report of the workshop recognised some of the obstacles to legislative oversight and made various recommendations for improving oversight mechanisms.

Parliaments have a constitutional mandate to scrutinise government spending and oversight functions are vested in the legislature as a fundamental principle of the separation of powers. The message from the workshop is that there is a need to improve the capacity of parliament, its committees and public auditors to oversee the budgetary process.

• For oversight to be effective, budget committees must be involved at various stages of the budget process and should regularly report to the House.
• The response and attitude of the government to accountability and oversight will largely determine whether transparency is to be achieved.
• Strengthening the roles of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Auditor General is better achieved when they co-exist with civil society.
• Parliaments should ensure that committee reforms, such as giving committees more powers to recommend punitive action against offenders, are pursued.
• Audit offices should be separated from the general civil service to maintain their integrity and independence.
• The CPA Secretariat should distribute information across the Commonwealth parliaments on procedures and mechanisms for strengthening oversight.

The workshop noted that the World Bank, and other multilateral and bilateral lending institutions look to political will to curb corruption as a condition of aid. Care should be taken when defining corruption, taking into account the cultural diversity of different countries.

• Tackling abuse and lack of accountability require consideration of broader economic, social, cultural and historical dimensions for which different strategies have to be devised.
• In many parliaments it is clear that it is still considered that parliament’s role is essentially one of passing legislation.
• There is a need to use extra-parliamentary bodies, such as the media, to highlight non-compliance with legislative authorisation.
• One problem faced by oversight mechanisms is the perception of pitting the legislature against the executive. Some executives are unwilling to provide information to legislatures or committees even in non-controversial areas.
• The CPA should provide training on parliamentary oversight in collaboration with international organisations such as the World Bank and IMF.

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Source: Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), 2001, 'Parliamentary Oversight of Finance: Ensuring Accountability in Public Expenditure', report of a CPA workshop, Nairobi
Author: Commonwealth Secretariat, http://www.thecommonwealth.org