Speaker Oulanyah Wants Government to Audit Impact of its Programs

The Deputy Speaker, Jacob Oulanyah has called for the modification of the audit process of government programs and projects to include accountability of their output.

While meeting a delegation of MPs from Namibia, Oulanyah said that it is common for running government programs and entities not to undergo any form of impact assessment.

The visiting MPs on the National Council Standing Committee on Audit met the Deputy Speaker on 02 December 2019.

Oulanyah said that this has brought up questions from the African electorate to their governments.

“Many times a health centre is constructed and audited to make sure that there was value for money in its establishment but what is often ignored is whether this health centre is serving its purpose thereafter, ” Oulanyah said.

He added that there is a need for the government to know whether the schools or hospitals they have set up are functional.

“Several years down the road, we need to find out whether there are doctors and medication in these health centres; has the disease burden come down and if it is a school, are the students performing better?” he said.

The Deputy Speaker said that in some situations he has found health centres that are not having an impact in their areas.

”The government at large needs to establish policies and functions that are making an impact on the people,” Oulanyah added.

The Chairperson of the Committee and Leader of the delegation, Hon. Lebbius S. Tobias said that after visiting Uganda during the recently concluded Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in October, they believed that they need to visit Uganda’s Parliament to benchmark its practices.

Tobias said that Namibia is a young nation having recently gained independence in 1990 and they were looking forward to having such enriching discussions.

“We take on offices and try to deliver but the power is in the hands of other people in the cabinet yet. The masses always challenge us about what we have done for them,” he added.

The Committee is on a seven-day benchmarking visit benchmarking best practices of the accountability committees that include the Public Accounts Committees of Local Government, Public Accounts and Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises.