THE USELESS PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE (PAC)

THE USELESS PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE (PAC)
By Penjani Moono, Activist

In this very short article, since Zambians hate reading long articles, the author has endeavored to shorten it.

For starters, parliament is a creation of the Constitution of Zambia. It is one of the arms of government. The role of parliament is to make laws, approve the budget and hold the executive accountable. How does parliament hold the executive accountable? It is through the parliamentary Committees.

Article 80 of the Constitutions creates the existence of Committees. Standing Orders, this is the Book governing the rules and how parliament operates. It even contains the times parliament adjourns, when parliament must sit. I am sure you hear Madam speaker urging the members to read the Standing Orders before they can raise a point of order.  It is through the powers of Article 80 of the Constitution that PAC exists. Then article 63(2)(c) gives powers to parliament to scrutinize the expenditure of Government.

So, what happens is that, the auditor General will audit all public books, or will investigate how the monies that were allocated to the government ministries and departments was used. Did any officer pocket the money instead of buying medicines? Or did they inflate the prices in a contract in order to benefit themselves? This report and figures are found in the AUDITOR GENERAL’S REPORT. When this report is out, it is submitted to parliament and then PAC uses this as a basis for holding the government accountable.

Now, here is where the author says PAC is a useless Committee. So, the Auditor General’s report is always a well written report, it shows all gaps and financial irregularities. PAC will them summon the controlling officers of line ministries or directors that have been captured or mentioned in the Auditor General’s report from wherever they are, Kaputa, Livingstone, Sesheke and will use tax payers to come to Lusaka to come and answer to the queries raised by the Auditor General, why they did not follow the financial regulations, why they spent a 100million Kwacha on a workshop that did not happen, witnesses sometimes even fail to address these critical questions of irregulaties and are guilt.

Members of parliament asking these questions are paid a K2,000 every day sitting allowance from tax payers, to hold the executive accountable to people’s money. After asking these tough questions PAC members get paid, the erring officers go back to their stations, that’s it, PAC waits for the other Auditor General’s report.

Proposal: The Author proposes that; PAC and all parliamentary Committees must be enhanced Constitutionally. For example, let ACC, DEC AND POLICE be permanent witnesses during PAC hearings. Public officers will be scared of misusing public funds, because the moment they are weighed on the scale of the Committee Law enforcement Agencies will then take it up. If we really care about public funds, PAC must be made a serious committee, because under its current status, it is like a chi big well-fed dog that cannot bite, can only bark. PAC only barks. A witness can even refuse to appear before PAC and PAC can not do anything. PAC has no powers, it is simply a useless committee using tax payers.