Attachment - intosai

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However, when we asked the MPs what they thought citizens expected of them we
received a somewhat different picture. Only fifty two percent thought citizens believed
that holding government to account was very important, while twenty seven per cent
thought people viewed this as fairly important. Those figures dropped further to forty
six percent and twenty seven per cent with respect to ensuring financial oversight.
What the survey seems to indicate is that MPs do not think that citizens view their
oversight role as terribly important. Their answers reveal that they think people expect
MPs to put greater emphasis on solving constituents’ problems. This is not a strong
incentive for parliamentarians to devote time to oversight. We need to be sensitive to
this when we talk about strategies for ensuring greater financial oversight through closer
cooperation between parliaments and supreme audit institutions.
And now for my anecdote. I was in Paris a couple of weeks ago. I had been invited to a
round table discussion at UNESCO Headquarters to debate the lessons we can learn
from the most recent developments in many Arab countries. The participants came
from some of the countries in question as well as from France and other, mainly
European, countries.
Many of those who took part in the debate expressed the opinion that the protests in
Egypt were motivated by a concern about the lack of democracy and a strong wish to
see political reform. However, opinion polls taken after the revolution indicate that two
thirds of the people who took to the streets did so principally because of discontent with
low living standards and unemployment.
Populations are growing at a vertiginous rate. In Egypt, the figure has doubled in 30
years. The populations are also young. In country after country that has been in the
news these past days the average age is well below thirty - generally less than half the
age of those who govern them. Add to this a dire lack of opportunities that young
people need so badly, and you have a potent recipe for conflict.
Yes, it is fair to assume that people want more transparency, wider freedom and greater
social justice. But more than anything, people want fair play, jobs and the benefits of
development. People want more opportunities and better service delivery. They want
better governments.
I suggested that one way of achieving this is by ensuring better parliamentary oversight,
and I took the example of better cooperation between national audit institutions and
parliaments to make my point. I explained what could be achieved by a parliament that
examined your reports, ideally in a committee dedicated to this purpose – for example a
public accounts committee – that was chaired by a member of the opposition, and which
used all the prerogatives of parliament to question ministers, undertake hearings,
Inter-Parliamentary Union Item 12