No Parley scrutiny of government assurances
Dithapelo Keorapetse | Friday February 26, 2016 16:38
Parliament can do that in various ways; questions, themes, motions and debates in the House as well as Committees. One important Portfolio Committee that ensures that the executive accounts to the people through Parliament is a committee dealing with government assurances. The said responsibility of government assurance is in respect of Botswana Parliament a task of a committee on Foreign Affairs, Justice, Defence, Security and Government Assurances. In terms of Standing Order 113.2, the committee shall exercise oversight and scrutiny in respect of all Parliamentary Government Assurances.
Exactly what are government assurances? During Parliament, when questions or themes are asked or discussions are made, the government through, Ministers make promises or assurances or undertakings to Parliamentarians that certain things will be done. The main function of the committee should be to scrutinise the promises made from time to time and to report to the House on the extent to which such assurances have been implemented to specifications, budget and schedule. The Committee has to update Parliament on delays in implementation and the adequacy or lack thereof of actions taken.
The problem with the Committee responsible for government assurances is that it is heavily laden with other responsibilities which are huge. In addition to assurances, the committee has to deal with issues of foreign affairs, justice, defence and security. In others words, matters relating to the foreign policy, military, police, prisons and administration of justice fall under this committee. How then is it expected to be productive? In other Parliaments similar committees are stand-alone and deal specifically with that purpose.
Currently, the backlog of government assurances dates back to as far as 2010. In other words, no scrutiny has ever been made by the Committee on government undertakings, promises and assurances from 2010 to date. There are many problems causing this backlog. The Committee is loaded with other responsibilities. For government assurances to be followed up, the committee has to deal specifically with that purpose as it obtains in other jurisdictions. There has to be a specific committee on government assurances. The reason why MPs are overstretched in committees in Botswana Parliament is that there are about 35 MPs who can be members of committees because the rest are ministers or assistants. Part of the solution to the problem therefore is increasing the number of elected MPs in line with increase of the population.
The Committee has seven MPs, three of whom double as Members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which is very busy and are members of other various Committees. The other four members are also members of other Committees. Committees can only sit properly when Parliament has adjourned its meetings and during that time most committees including the PAC would be sitting. When Parliament is sitting, it is hard for committees to meet for various reasons. On Mondays some MPs would be travelling back from constituencies. Tuesday is the day reserved for party caucuses and Thursday for all-party caucus or General Assembly and Fridays Parliament sits in the morning. So committees can only sit on Tuesdays when Parliament is on and usually Committees compete for this day.
The secretariats of parliamentary committees are not well resourced; they are responsible for 23 committees and about five inter-parliamentary committees. It is impossible to be productive with so many committees with multiple responsibilities for about five officers. Consequently, oversight is seriously compromised. The secretariat, in addition to other issues such as defence, security, justice and foreign affairs, is responsible for reading through piles of questions (including supplementary questions), themes, motions and other discussions to identify government assurances, promises and undertakings. This is a huge task that needs more staff and more qualified people. When it is said that the backlog on government assurances dates as far as 2010 it means that no minister of government or accounting officer has been asked what he or she has done about things they promised since 2010. Of course some MPs ask follow up questions on assurances but a properly constituted and well resources committee can probe further and a delve beneath the facade.
There’s hope that this year assurances will be dealt with. However, this may be hampered by numerous constraints which have been articulated above. The Committee should deal specifically with government assurances and be well capacitated.
It must be wellresourced, including its secretariat. This way, Parliament, through the committee on assurances, will provide effective oversight and hold the government to account on its undertakings, assurances and promises.