- Eino Vatileni
Speaker of the National Assembly Hon. Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila has called on Public Accounts Committees across the SADC region to strengthen oversight by focusing not only on whether procurement procedures are followed, but also on the developmental impact of public spending.
The speaker made these remarks at the opening of the SADCOPAC training for Public Accounts Committees (PACs), similar committees and technical officials supporting oversight committees in Swakopmund on Wednesday.The training and meetings are held under the theme, “Strengthening Oversight Capacities for Sustainable Development: Enhancing Accountability and Transparency in Public Financial Management.” She said procurement is one of the government’s most powerful policy instruments.
“Through procurement, governments drive industrialisation, support small and medium enterprises, empower women-owned businesses, promote local content, and advance broader developmental objectives. But it is also an area of significant fiscal risk, susceptible to inefficiency, abuse, and outright corruption,” the speaker said.
She added that Public Accounts Committees across the SADC region must go beyond ‘simply verifying’ whether procurement rules were followed and must ask impact questions. According to the speaker, the committees must assess the developmental impact of procurement decisions.
“Oversight that stops at procedural compliance without asking whether the expenditure achieved its intended purpose is incomplete oversight,” she said.The speaker added that the institutional and technical capacity of Public Accounts Committees and their support staff is essential for effective oversight.She stressed that oversight must go beyond tracking expenditure to determining whether public funds are used effectively and deliver sustainable developmental outcomes.
“When governments borrow to fund programmes that yield no sustainable return, they increase debt without advancing development,” she said, adding that oversight must focus not only on what went wrong, but also on improving systems for better results.She said it is critical that Public Accounts Committees are equipped to assess not just whether money was spent, but also whether it was spent effectively.“Wasteful expenditure is a loss, it creates liabilities without commensurate benefits,” she said.
