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Executive more powerful—Chimango
08 September 2008
Nation Online
Lilongwe: The Speaker of the National Assembly Loius Chimango says parliaments in Africa are not effective as they should be because of the pressure from executive arms of government.
Chimango said this in a speech at the official opening of the SADCOPAC an annual meeting of members of the public accounts committees of parliaments in the Sadc region being held in Lilongwe.
“Sad to note though, research that parliaments in Africa, particularly those in our region are not as effective as they should be...the executive exerts more authority and has proved to be more powerful than the other two arms of government, namely the Judiciary and Parliament itself,” Chimango told delegates to the conference.
The Speaker quoted a study done by the Institute of Democracy in South Africa which determined that “our parliaments have slowly become less effective in discharging their oversight responsibility over the executive; and that they have slowly been detached from the citizens they represent.”
The meeting, which started on August 31 and will end today[Friday], is discussing among other topics the challenges faced by the committees, the role of the committees in ensuring integrity, accountability and efficiency of public finance management.
Chairman of the public accounts committee in Malawi Aleke Banda reminded delegates of the crucial role that these committees play in a democracy.
“It is important for parliamentarians to discuss issues of transparency and accountability... transparency and accountability are tenets of good governance and in no way lesser than the observance of the rule of law and popular participation,” Aleke said, saying as representatives of the people, they face a daunting task to fight for good governance. “It is a struggle we cannot afford to lose.”
Keywords: SADC, budget monitoring, parliaments,
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