In a
democracy, a government has the authority to govern, subject
to the approval and oversight of the parliament, which in
turn is accountable to the electorate through fair open
transparent and competitive elections.
There are
four fundamental responsibilities of a parliament in the
exercise of oversight of government.
1) To debate,
modify, approve or reject legislation.
2) To debate,
modify, approve or reject authority for government to raise
revenues through taxation and other means.
3) To debate,
modify, approve or reject proposed expenditures by
government.
4) To hold
executive accountable for its governance of society.
Far too
often, parliamentarians see their roles as supporting the
government at any cost if they are a member of the governing
party or opposing the government regardless of the merits of
its proposals when they are in opposition.
In a properly
functioning democracy, a government is accountable to the
parliament as a whole, where the members bring a diversity
of opinion to the debate but are still required to exercise
their considered judgement on the proposals by government
and the performance of government.
For example,
our Latin American Chapter has chosen to identify the
progress (or lack thereof) that their governments have made
in introducing the legislation necessary to implement the
Santiago Convention Against Corruption. In the Caribbean,
the new Chapter has recognized the need to improve the
effectiveness of the Public Accounts Committees which are
Standing Committees of the Legislature focused on
accountability.