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 IMPROVING FINANCIAL OVERSIGHT ROLE OF THE
PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE CLERK  MALAWIS
EXPERIENCE

• By
•  Joseph Joel Manzi
• Clerk of the Public Accounts Committee for Malawi
  Parliament
•  
•  
• 3RD WESTMINSTER WORKSHOP FOR PUBLIC ACCOUNTS
  COMMITTEES HELD IN LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
•  
•  
• 24TH 27TH JUNE, 2013

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INTRODUCTION 

• PACs play critical role of ensuring integrity,
  accountability, transparency and improving
  efficiency in the management of public funds.
• However, PACs cannot function on their own
  without the support of the Secretariat.
• Secretariat provides the technical and
  administrative support services to the
  Committee for it to perform its duties
  effectively and efficiently.

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PAC SECRETARIAT IN MALAWI

• Standing Orders for the Malawi Parliament
  recognize a need for each Committee to have its
  Secretariat.
• Standing Order 177 states Each Committee shall
  have committee staff including a Committee Clerk
  and a Parliamentary Researcher and may engage the
  services of technical consultants.

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In Malawi, PAC secretariat comprises staff from
Parliament and from the Audit Generals Office
(National Audit Office).

• Staff from Parliament comprises the following,
  among others
• PAC Clerk as the Lead Clerk
• 3 other Clerks
• a Researcher
• Parliamentary Reporters and Editors of Hansard
  and
• Other support staff, e.g. Ushers and Audio Visual
  Staff

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From the National Audit Office

• The work of the Public Accounts Committee is
  largely based on the Auditor Generals Reports.
• As such, the Auditor General is the principal
  technical advisor of the Committee as it is
  examining the Reports.
• In attending the PAC meetings, the Auditor
  General is accompanied by other Senior Auditors
  from his or her office.

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ROLE OF A PAC CLERK

• Central coordinating unit in as far as the
  provision of secretarial support services to the
  Committee is concerned.
• The Clerk is a link between the Committee and
  other members of the Secretariat.
• CLERKS ROLE SUMMARIZED IN 4 MAIN FUNCTIONS
• Provision of administrative and secretariat
  services
• Provision of advice on Committee Practice and
  Procedure
• Coordination of research and analytical support
  services
• Managing the interaction between the Committee
  and stakeholders

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1. Provision of administrative and secretariat
services

• Preparation of agenda and programme for
  Committee meetings under the direction of the
  Chairperson.
•  
• In Malawi, the Rules of the House require that
  notice of the meeting should be circulated at
  least two weeks before the date of the meeting.
  It is, therefore, the Clerks responsibility to
  ensure that this requirement is met.
• The Clerk ensures that the programme for the
  appearance of the Controlling Officers before the
  Committee is implemented as planned.
• Minute taking during committee meetings.
•  
• Drafting Committee reports .

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2. Provision of advice on Practice and Procedure

• Clerk is a non-political officer in the
  Committee. As such, he or she is expected to
  provide his or her advice to the Committee in a
  professional and non-partisan manner.
• It is also important that the Clerk should be
  familiar with Standing Orders and precedents.
•  

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3. Coordination of research and analytical
support services

• The Clerk provides direction to the Committee
  Researcher to prepare background information
  where necessary on issues under the Committees
  inquiry.
• The Clerk coordinates the preparatory meetings
  for the Secretariat, i.e. to prepare for draft
  questions and necessary documentation for the
  Committee.
•  
• Allocating specific tasks to members of the
  Secretariat either as individuals or as groups,
  e.g. following up with Controlling Officers on
  the written responses to the audit queries.

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 4. Managing the interaction between the
Committee and stakeholders

• The Clerk facilitates the interface between the
  Committee and its stakeholders which include
  Controlling Officers summoned to appear before
  the Committee to answer audit queries, Civil
  Society Organizations, the media and the general
  public.

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ATTRIBUTES OF AN EFFECTIVE PAC CLERK

• excellent knowledge of Standing Orders and common
  practices.
• good working relationship with the Chairperson
  and all other Committee Members.
• political tact
• non-partisan
• Proactive
• communicates at all levels
• embrace a reading culture.

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CHALLENGES

• Frequent changes of the Committee membership
• In Malawi, powers to appoint and remove a Member
  to and from the Committee, respectively, rest
  with the party Whips whenever they see it fit.
• No rule to guarantee the tenure of membership to
  a Committee.
• As such, there are frequent changes to the
  Committee membership which, as a result, pose
  serious challenge to the Secretariat in terms of
  orientation of the new Committee Members.

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2. Financial limitations

• Treasury funding, in most cases, is not adequate
  to enable the Committee to meet and carry out its
  planned activities as desired.
• As a result, the Committee
• has a backlog of the Auditor Generals Reports
  unattended to and
• fails to implement capacity building programmes
  for its Members and Secretariat, e.g. training
  workshops and attachments to other Parliaments.

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3. Understaffing

• Although Malawi Parliament, through its
  Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC), is
  mandated to recruit its own staff, however, the
  PSC is required to seek authority from the
  Department of Human Resource Management (DHRMD)
  of the Executive Branch of Government to fill
  vacant posts.
• This poses a challenge in the sense that, in
  certain cases and due to any reasons, the DHRMD
  declines to grant the authority to fill the
  vacant posts, resulting into shortage of staff.

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MEASURES TO ADDRESS THE IDENTIFIED CHALLENGES

• 1. Review of the Standing Orders
• The Malawi Parliament, through its Committee on
  Legal Affairs has just completed a process of
  reviewing the current Standing Orders in which a
  proposal has been made that the tenure of
  Committee membership should be pegged to the life
  of Parliament, a move which is aimed at creating
  a sense of permanence on the Committee membership
  as compared to the current situation.

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Pledge for increased Treasury Funding and Donor
Support

• There is commitment from the Ministry of Finance
  to increase allocation for Committee meetings
  including the PAC meetings.
• In addition, some Development and Cooperating
  Partners, such as Norway, British (DFID), Germany
  which support accountability programmmes in
  Malawi, have pledged financial support to the PAC
  and the National Audit Office.

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CONCLUSION

• The role of the PAC Clerk in facilitating the
  PACs oversight function of holding the Executive
  to account for its use of the public funds is
  clearly inevitable and need not to be
  overemphasized.
• It is, therefore, important for decision makers
  at any level to seriously consider providing the
  necessary support to the PAC Clerks if the PACs
  they are servicing are to operate efficiently and
  effectively.