Bunge-Lenye-Meno-A-Parliament-with-Teeth-for-Tanzania-LAXNNAJ547

Mr Speaker
Public Accounts Committee
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has been trained and has
travelled all over the Commonwealth. It is better equipped and has a lot
of informal connections with similar committees in other places. We
also set up a Local Authorities Accounts Committee, a Public
Investments Committee, and a Public Organisations Accounts
Committee. These are headed by the opposition.
The new rules require the report of the PAC to be discussed by
parliament. The PAC reports to parliament with an analysis of the report
of the Controller and Auditor General, and this triggers a two-day debate
in parliament. Previously, no discussion was required. The report was
tabled and perhaps an MP would take the initiative to raise certain
issues. But that was all.
We considered whether donors should be obliged to report to the PAC.
But in terms of relationships between nations, we thought that it would
not be appropriate to compel donors to report to a committee or to
parliament. Instead, we decided, on the suggestion of donors, to create
a tri-partite Bunge Foundation, bringing together members of the donor
community, civil society and MPs.
In this way, discussions about aid are confined by the strictures of
dealing with a sovereign government. Parliament has a lot of
connections with the donors, which is very healthy. But we thought that
on the issue of government accountability it is better that we deal with
the donors through the Bunge Foundation.
The Bunge Foundation
We have been working on a five-year corporate plan for parliament,
with support from four or five donors: the Scandinavians, DFID, World
35