Gaborone:  On 8 February 2010, Finance Minister, Kenneth Matambo, delivered the 2010/11 Budget Speech to the National Assembly.  Simultaneously, he presented an Appropriation Bill which just passed the second reading. Barring the sky falling, it will pass the third reading and become a law. Thus, Parliament exercises power over the purse through this process; ‘does it really exercise this power?'

Notably, the phrase ‘power over the purse' is credited to James Madison. Writing in Federalist Papers in the 19th century, Madison held that the ‘power over the purse' was one foolproof measure at the disposal of the Legislature to rein in the Executive.

However, it is important to note that struggles for legislative supremacy over the purse have a long history. To this end, in England, the fight culminated in the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 (Schick 2002).  Thus, through the Magna Carta, King John made an undertaking to the barons, then people's representatives, not to levy taxes without their consent (ibid).

Notably, this arrangement did not deliver the desired results and when the government replaced the Crown, the legislature found itself constrained to exercise power over the purse due to its standing orders and political ‘realpolitik (ibid:19).'

Similar budget wars were fought in France in the 18th century as sufficiently instanced by the 1791 decree that stated that ‘the Assembly shall itself definitely examine and audit the accounts of the Nation (ibid).'

In the subsequent, budget practices that evolved in the west diffused to then colonies. Botswana, a former British colony, adopted a Westminster style of government that resulted in weak legislative budget oversight (see also CABRI 2008).

At the outset, it is very important to showcase the primacy of the budget as a public allocation tool. It is a ‘document containing words and figures, which proposes expenditure for certain purposes (Wildavsky 1984:1).' To this end, one of the purposes of the budget is holding operatives accountable for the use of resources (Axelrod 1988).

Hence, in the era of New Public Management, accountability is a virtue whose benefits cannot be oversold and, thus, exercising power over the purse is one method to elicit Executive accountability.

Where is the locus of power over the purse? To answer this question, regard must be had to the budget cycle. The cycle consists of four phases: (i) formulation; (ii) approval; (iii) execution; and (iv) audit/review. Thus, it is during the approval stage that the Legislature can weigh in on the proposed budget.

Despite the topicality of legislative oversight, little is known about the power over the purse outside the OECD (Schick 2002). All the same, the general consensus is that there has been a general decline in parliamentary influence over the budget.

However, regarding Africa, CABRI did a 26-country study on budget practices in 2008. Regarding parliamentary budget oversight, the survey entailed questions such as: (i) formal powers of the legislature (amendment powers, reversionary budgets and executive flexibility during execution); and (ii) organisational capacity (ibid). It can be concluded that Botswana's parliamentary budget oversight is limited; the legislature can amend the proposed budget but cannot change the deficit/surplus amount; if the proposed budget is not approved by the legislature on 1 April, the proposal stands and, importantly, that there is no specialised budget research office to conduct budget analysis.

To conclude, the power over the purse is an important accountability instrument; it reins in the Executive. However, due to the Westminster style of government that results in a weak parliament, it is a given that budget proposals will often, indeed almost always, pass without serious alteration.

Relatedly, declaring them DoA (Dead on Arrival) is certainly impossible. To add insult to injury, the ruling Botswana Democratic Party' caucus system deprives MPs of their tongues. Amongst other things, they are instructed on how to debate the Budget Speech. In the ultimate, the Madisonian power over the purse concept is a chimera.

*  Written by DR EMMANUEL BOTLHALE