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The role of parliament in the implementation of the PRSP
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3. Can Parliament Deliver on the PRSP?
"The greatest challenge is to actually get results from projects and programmes so that they have a positive effect on the poor. Oversight on programme effectiveness is one of the most important Parliamentary programmes in the fight against poverty", concluded the moderator of the World Bank e-mail discussions group on the Role of the Parliamentarian in the fight against poverty which was conducted recently.
This is not to say that budget oversight is the only avenue to ensure successful implementation for PRSP. It is simply to emphasise that budgetary oversight is a major input and one which parliament is suitably positioned to perform. In this context, the inchoate experience of the budget and finance committee in Malawi may be useful. This committee was established by section 56(7) of the Constitution. It is one of the 3 committees that are specifically mentioned in the constitution. All the political parties in parliament are represented in the committee in proportion to their numerical strength in the House. Periodically invitations are extended to the chairpersons and the vice chair persons to sister committees of the House such as Agriculture, Education and Health. The ripple effect of this is that at least 25 percent of the total membership of the House can be reached and be expected to make informed contributions when issues which the committee considered are discussed in the full House.
The Terms of Reference the Committee include sharpening public awareness of the budget as well as encouraging informed debate on the budget and on economic issues. In its formative stages, (1995/96) the Committee advised Parliament on judicial salaries and packages which were seen as critical for judicial independence. It also initiated contacts with major economic operators such as the tobacco industry, and professional bodies such as the Society of Accountants, and the Economics Association of Malawi. The committee periodically engaged consultants to advise on inflation, the budget deficit, gender equity concerns and, analysed the National Assembly budget. Towards the end of 2001 the committee established a task force on poverty reduction having decided to devote its energies to poverty reduction concerns.
The committee held exhaustive consultations with officials on the Public Expenditure Review (PER) in order to understand how efficiency could be built into expenditure. It also examined the Phase II Overview of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF). Members further participated in numerous workshops where the poverty concerns were examined using in the main the government publication: profiles of poverty in Malawi, Poverty Analysis of Malawi, Integrated Household survey, 1998 and drafts which later became the Malawi Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.
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