Lift the veil of secrecy

Mmegi Editor | Thursday August 3, 2017 11:27

For far too long, the inner workings of the Ministry of Finance have been hidden from view – and thus scrutiny – behind a veil of officialdom, where authorities have often cited the seemingly sensible need for sensitivity in fiscal policy dealings.

Sensitivities aside, it is plain to see how the veil of secrecy behind which fiscal and monetary authorities operate, could easily lend itself to imprudent management of taxpayer resources.

At present, the Minister of Finance reports to Cabinet, to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and to Parliament, all of which gives the appearance of accountability in the conduct of fiscal policy. However, in reality, Cabinet reports are out of public reach while the PAC and Parliament’s scrutiny only extend as far as its members are knowledgeable about the issues at hand. Thus, for a long time, it has to be acknowledged that the Finance Minister has not been challenged on the inner workings of the fiscal policy such as the logic behind the setting of fiscal rules, the appointment of fund managers for public investments, the parameters for these investments, the returns, the losses and others.

Furthermore, in the case of the PAC and Parliament, even where the questioning has become more intrusive, the Finance Minister has enjoyed the luxury of simply fobbing off the enquiries or outright citing contractual and procedural confidentialities.

This was the case on Monday when Kenewendo asked Finance Minister, Kenneth Matambo why government guarantees were being treated as debt, a very apt question given the heavy burden government is bearing paying off some of these, on behalf of defaulting parastatals.

Matambo was able to evade the central argument, which was around the prudence of government dishing out guarantees to parastatals, to the extent that these are now essentially debt to central government due to parastatal’s failure to honour repayment obligations.

Another Kenewendo question asked Matambo about the workings of the P31 billion Government Investment Account, specifically the need for greater transparency. The Finance Minister, while claiming that there was “total transparency” then invited Kenewendo to his Ministry to assess the workings, rather than open them up to debate in Parliament, under the public glare.

The need for official sensitivity around fiscal policy is understood by all. However, the need for transparency, scrutiny and debate is equally essential, a point the government has previously said it subscribes to as shown by its commitment to the open budget process. The time for, “we have always done it this way” must come to an end.

 

Today’s thought

“Transparency is the politics of managing mistrust.” 

– Ivan Krastev