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The role of parliament in the implementation of the PRSP
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2. Parliament and PRSP Process
Modern constitutions on the African Continent require that the authority to exercise power of State be
conditional on the sustained trust of the people. Trust can only be maintained through open, accountable
and transparent government and informed choices (see section 12 (iii) of the Malawi Republican Constitution).
Systems are therefore supposed to be open, transparent and accountable. Development processes themselves
are not spared of this requirement. The legislator variously referred to as a watchdog, advocate and
intermediary of constituents in the context of parliament which is also an agent of change and builder of
alliances with various stakeholders needs to be taken on board. He shares the responsibility of ensuring
that the executive performs to the standard. The parliamentarian is the authentic representative of the
poor and frequently now one of the providers for constituents. In the formulation of strategies to reduce
poverty, he refuses to be a mere rubber stamp of a fait accompli. He demands a role in the
implementation and in the monitoring and evaluation of PRSP processes. This is the experience out of
contacts with legislators throughout the African continent.
In Malawi legislators have not had an active involvement in the poverty Reduction Strategy Paper process. However, at least a beginning has been made in that a number of chairmen of Parliament committees were invited to join some of the nineteen thematic groups preparatory to the PRSP. The Chairman of the Budget and finance Committee for example chaired the Public Expenditure Thematic Group. A limited number of Parliamentarians also participated in the district consultations at the invitation of the PRSP Technical Committee. Experience shows that it takes some initiative from the legislators themselves to crown the participation process. It is a situation that we have to encourage since the PRSP process is the best in terms of the participatory approach to date.
Elsewhere on the continent the executive have not consulted Parliamentarians in a meaningful way. In Nigeria for example, it was reported during a video conference which the writer participated in that meetings were held in constituencies during the week beginning 18th February 2002 but that the appropriate members of Parliament were not invited. Similarly it was revealed that in Niger, members of Parliament were invited at different stages in the PRSP "in a token or ceremonial way". In Ghana participation of Parliamentarians was more involving through individual MPs who participated in core teams. The Ghana in legislators were more forward looking in hoping that they would approve a final PRSP although at the time of the video conference when this was stated, the international electronic media was already reporting that Ghana had successfully reached completion point and had qualified for substantial debt relief.
Out of the 300 delegates from 31 countries that attended the September 10-13, 2001 Dakar Conference on PRSPs in Africa only 5 were members of Parliament out of which two were Malawians. Therefore it is obvious that the process has a long way to go before it can accommodate legislators.
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