The Deputy Speaker, Jacob Oulanyah has called for the modification of the audit process of government programmes and projects to include accountability of their output.
While meeting a delegation of MPs from Namibia, Oulanyah said that it is common
for running government programmes and entities not to undergo any form of
impact assessment.
The visiting MPs on the National Council Standing Committee on Audit met the Deputy Speaker on 02 December 2019.
Oulanyah said that this has brought up questions from the African electorate to
their governments.
“Many times a health centre is constructed and audited to make sure that
there was value for money in its establishment but what is often ignored is
whether this health centre is serving its purpose thereafter, ” Oulanyah
He added that there is need for the government to know whether the schools or
hospitals they have set up are functional.
“Several years down the road, we need to find out whether there are doctors and
medication in these health centres; has the disease burden come down and if it
is a school, are the students performing better?” he said.
The Deputy Speaker said that in some situations he has found health centres
that are not having an impact in their areas.
”The government at large needs to establish policies and functions that are
making an impact on the people,” Oulanyah added.
The Chairperson of the Committee and Leader of the delegation, Hon. Lebbius S.
Tobias said that after visiting Uganda during the recently concluded
Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in October, they believed that they need
to visit Uganda’s Parliament to benchmark on its practices.
Tobias said that Namibia is a young nation having recently gained independence
in 1990 and they were looking forward to having such enriching discussions.
“We take on offices and try to deliver but the power is in the hands of other
people in the cabinet yet. The masses always challenge us about what we have
done for the them,” he added.
The Committee is on a seven day benchmarking visit benchmarking best practices
of the accountability committees that include the Public Accounts
Committees of Local Government, Public Accounts and Statutory Authorities and
State Enterprises.
