African Parliaments, Enhanced Oversight and the Fight against Corruption – Lessons from strengthening compliance programs.

Oversight is a primary function of a parliament. Parliamentary oversight aims to promote people’s freedoms and well-being, and to improve accountability and transparency in government. Parliamentary oversight, thus, is used by parliamentarians to monitor, review and supervise government’s action and activities as well as policies, budgets and legislations – reinforcing tools and mechanisms within parliament for holding government accountable. Ensuring effective oversight to ensure that resources are used appropriately has, however, not always been easy. Often, the very nature of the political process exposes parliaments and parliamentarians to the same corrupt forces that need to be combatted, and African parliaments are no exception.

Corruption is a multi-faceted and complex subject and vice which countries find difficult to eradicate since in many instances, it is pervasive across society. It hampers the improvement in the living conditions of the population pursued by the government, and national funds are channeled and used by a few.

Suggestions to enhance and advance oversight abound including the need for parliaments to strengthen their own internal processes, capacity, and ethical codes; invest in financial oversight capabilities and improved public financial management; invest in more effective oversight mechanisms, including public inquiries and post-legislative scrutiny; invest in parliamentary budget offices (PBOs), stronger budget committees, and public accounts committees (or equivalents) to undertake more ex ante and ex post financial oversight, etc., to mention a few.

Taking its cue from the above, this roundtable will seek to address the issue of parliamentary oversight in the fight against corruption and the role of parliamentarians to hold government accountable. Speakers will draw on their nuanced knowledge and experience of the parliamentary landscape in Africa to explain how the continent is doing about combatting corruption using parliamentary compliance programs. Discussions will also address the threats, opportunities and possibilities faced in this ‘fight’, lessons learned, best practices, and what they deem as the best way forward in the fight against corruption and associated ills such as illicit financial transfers.

This webinar will include simultaneous interpretation (English & French).