BudgIT Foundation, a civic- tech Orgnisation has recommended Transparency and Accountability during COVID -19 Outbreak in Africa.
The Foundation made this known during its presentation on Transparency & Accountability during the COVID-19 Outbreak in Africa, Highlights by the Senior Research Analyst, BudgIT, Vahyala Kwaga on Monday in Lagos.
“Unpack the ‘black box’ of Public Procurement within MDA’s among states, improve synergy between audit/oversight/security agencies in delivering policy, for e.g pooling together biodata on Nigerians, increase pressure on Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, Auditor General, AuGen and Accountant General, AccGen, to enhance Beneficial Ownership data”, he said.
He noted the opportunities such as leveraging the Freedom of Information Act. So also government and civil society groups can leverage technological innovations designed to extract or promote political accountability, leveraging international anti-corruption platforms and open government partnerships.
“Strengthening procurement process and NOCOPO; ensuring proactive disclosure and harmonisation of budget expenditure data; strengthening the civic space, emboldening legislative checks and balances are very crucial in order to achieve transparency and accountability”, he added.
Also, BPP’s move to publish procurement data according to him may have had more to do with its engagement with Civil Society than any government directive.
He maintained that the ‘Wrongs’ by Officials come in different shapes and forms in terms of misappropriation of funds, which he listed to include diversion – N2.67bn funds diversion, ethical Violations by Politically Exposed Persons and misappropriation and impunity of Duty Bearers ‘W.
Speaking on common themes of lack of transparency, he said, For Malawi, during peak COVID-19, financial statements were never publicly available real-time. ‘Follow the Money’ Malawi, according to him reported that those responsible for provide information on funding never responded. In Cameroon, realtime publication of COVID-19 spending was non-existent paving way for corruption and mismanagement. Citizens and civil society had no information on disbursement and spending which affected effective public oversight on the use of funds.
He noted the trend in Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, which he listed to include COVID-19 related budgetary processes -preparation, approval, implementation, and audit-the public and civil society organizations were largely excluded.
“Thus, accountability of the budget process becomes more compelling when one notes that the interventions, largely funded by loans, will be borne by citizens, when the current managers of the process would have gone”, he stressed.
On States fiscal transparency, accountability and sustainability, states according to him have requirements, too.
These, he listed to include that the states have incentives to be open and transparent as the option of not doing so is ‘expensive’. “Unfortunately, engagement by the states is very uneven; SFTAS requires states: increase quality, timeliness and transparency of the budget, budget implementation reports and audited financial statements; increase citizens’ participation in the budget process; and improve budget credibility by reducing deviation in total expenditure”.
“Attempt at Transparency Still ‘Unclear’-OpenTreasury.org & Covid-19 Resource Tracking Dashboard.
As a result of commitments to the Open Government Partnership, both states and the federal government affirmed data on spending would be publicized; A visit to the sites leave much to be desired (broken links, page jumps, static information, virtual dead ends); Despite having clear oversight from the Accountant General, there is substantial non-compliance by MDA’s and the states”.
He listed the challenges with National Budgeting to include time variations in preparation, presentation and approval executive-legislature tangle persistent partial implementation of the Budget interference with Legislative Independence he maintained is a culture of bureaucratic officialdom inaccessible Budget Style and Format.
