PHILOSOPHY FOR PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM Government's ...

White Paper on Public Sector Reform• more authority and discretionary power is needed at the operational levelof the programme managers. To hold them accountable, they needcertain flexibility;• the current rules and policies under which expenditures are absolutelyrestricted to the individual object of expense line item in the ApprovedEstimate, needs to be reviewed;• performance cannot be absolutely budgeted for; things change and oftenunpredictably. Programme Managers need to make adjustments inexpenditure patterns to meet these changed conditions;• if virement authority is not granted to Permanent Secretaries, a substitutemethod of quickly reviewing and deciding on budget allocations needs to beinstituted; and• the half year review is not nearly responsive enough.The foregoing issues are being addressed by the Ministry of Finance with theimplementation of the new programme performance budgeting system.8:3 REFORMS IN REVENUE DEPARTMENTSAction is in progress to enhance capability in revenue collection in -(a) the Inland Revenue Department, where institutional strengthening istaking place to better enable it to do assessments and collection of taxesin an efficient manner.