Tag: COVID 19

Account4COVID Webinar Summary: Reflections of an online conversation with some of Africa’s frontline civic actors

Lindelwa Nxele

Background/context

With the outbreak of Covid-19, many governments’ health and basic service delivery systems have already been placed under considerable strain and across Africa, fragile health and economic systems are likely to face further planning and budgeting challenges now and in the aftermath of the pandemic. As a result, international financial institutions, private foundations and development agencies are pledging billions of dollars across the globe for governments to successfully combat COVID-19 and to cushion the most vulnerable populations from its socio-economic impact.  The pandemic has also exacerbated pressure on the region’s public financial management (PFM) systems as well as exposed previous and ongoing corruption as more questions are being asked as to why health systems are weak/underprepared for the pandemic. At the same time, COVID-19 public health interventions are curtailing the abilities of citizens to exert accountability and oversight in many ways. Civic space and any efforts to expose COVID-19 related corruption are therefore vulnerable to clamp down. Local Transparency, Accountability and Participation (TAP) strategies are therefore critical to solving a lot of these challenges and to the future of better health &  broader fiscal governance systems.

 

In April 2020, 8 organizations –  Accountability Lab Africa & DC offices, African Freedom Information Center, AfroLeadership, BudgIT, CODE / Follow The Money Africa, the Public Service Accountability Monitor and Global Integrity – came together to collaborate on Account4COVID, an initiative that promotes and advocates for greater accountability, civic inclusion & transparency of COVID19 public allocations and expenditures.

 

Distilling our collective objectives

In May 2020, the above organizations scheduled a call with several organizations working in the field of fiscal governance transparency and accountability on the continent. These calls sought to explore how an initiative like Account4COVID could strengthen their local TAP strategies concerning publicly funded COVID-19 efforts. The consultative calls confirmed the need to gather actors from across the region to analyse the impact of COVID19 on fiscal governance and to exchange ideas and lessons for possible strategies to improve transparency, accountability and participation in the following key areas:

  • Access to information & data to map and track allocation and expenditure of COVID-19 public funds ;
  • Contracting & Public Procurement of goods and services for COVID-19 efforts ;
  • The provision of health and basic services (water, sanitation and social welfare) especially for the poor and vulnerable communities ;
  • Oversight, anti-corruption regulations and mechanisms.

 

The Account4COVID initiative plans to hold a series of webinar sessions to facilitate dialogue, networking and exchange between civil society organizations, and other change agents seeking to address TAP challenges and opportunities related to Covid-19 in their contexts.

 

Insights from the 1st webinar

The first webinar on 17 June aimed to provide an overview of select COVID-19 related transparency initiatives across Africa. Additionally – the objective was to share, reflect and learn about some of the emerging opportunities and challenges concerning demands for transparency, accountability and participation in the use of COVID-19 related funds. The webinar attracted a diverse audience including advocates of open government, social accountability and open budgets in Africa and beyond. Speakers’ inputs and questions from the floor illustrated a range of important interventions to tackle novel (and not -so- novel) socio-economic challenges.

 

Hamzat Lawal, Chief Executive, Connected Development, Nigeria & Founder, Follow The Money International  provided an update on  its  Follow The Money initiative which officially began in 2012 has been scaled up in recent months to a pan-African campaign which empowers other civic actors and oversight bodies with a technology application to map and track the COVID-19 donations in Kenya, The Gambia, Malawi, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Liberia and Nigeria. In Zimbabwe, the technology application has also been designed to assist with contract tracing by mapping Covid 19 hot spots in Zimbabwe.

 

Masana Ndinga-Kanga, Crisis Response Fund Lead at CIVICUS in South Africa shared about impact of the South African government’s public health interventions on the right of civic actors to  freely exercise oversight, organise, participate in decision making processes particularly around COVID-19 allocations & expenditures.  She also highlighted how their transparency demands and participation in COVID-19 decision making processes as CIVICUS are designed to address the inequality gap within South Africa, in order to protect vulnerable communities from the pandemic. She also spoke about the unequal power relations between Western lending institutions and African governments which end up influencing fiscal priorities more than local voices.

 

Wanjiru Gikonyo, Director of The Institution of Social Accountability (TISA), Kenya talked about the lack of data, transparency and participation around current COVID-19 debt relief loan negotiations & other debt service offers  from international financial institutions which is intended to free up resources for public sector health needs and other emergency spending. She pointed to the importance of debt transparency to mitigate against  unmanageable debt levels which reduce domestic resource availability for future development priorities.

 

Moussa Kondo, Country Director for Accountability Lab, Mali presented on a recently launched Coronavirus CivActs Campaign (CCC)  – a Citizen Help Desk to prevent misinformation and close data gaps including providing reliable data on Covid 19 donations and monitoring its expenditure by government as well as debunking pandemic myths and rumours. In the case of Mali, Accountability Lab has translated all the relevant data into local languages.

 

Uadamen Ilevbaoje, Project Lead for BudgIT’s spoke about the launch of a web based platform focused on COVID 19 building on their outstanding work with Tracka. The platform monitors Covid-19 donations given to the federal and state governments of Nigeria ranging from private and public, local and international organizations.

 

Learning and inspiration

The main takeaways and lessons learned from current COVID related TAP initiatives on the continent include

  • COVID-19 has multiple revenue streams (private sector, foreign assistance, private donations, debt loans, national & sub national budgets & emergency funds). Technology has played a vital role in gathering all these different data sources in a ‘one stop shop’ and presenting it in an easily accessible way ;
  • Aggregated data on its own is not useful, most campaigns aim to disaggregate the data as much as possible, and also gather data on the conditions and purpose of the funds in order to hold public officials accountable for the delivery of goods and services ;
  • Civic actors need to pay equal attention to both transparency of allocated COVID-19 funds, as well as transparency around COVID related deferred debt payments and extension of additional credit ;
  • TAP strategies have instrumental value and they are being used by civic actors to respond to contextual challenges such as inequality which has exacerbated the negative impact of COVID-19 on the lives of poor and vulnerable communities
  • The political dynamics of unequal power relations and systems between international actors (donors) and local actors (national government) impact on fiscal governance priorities & decision making processes;
  • Local TAP strategies are fighting the pandemic not only by providing financial data but by providing vulnerable communities with reliable information and facts about the virus. Countering misinformation, education and awareness raising tactics have thus been infused into the local TAP strategies.

 

At the end of the webinar, 45 attendees voted on the topic of discussion for the next Account4COVID webinar. Anti-corruption received the majority of the vote with 27%. 20% showed interest in the Socio-economic impact of COVID. The following topics:  Contracting & Procurement, Expenditure Tracking, Health and basic service provision each received a vote of 13%. Access to information and Closing civic space each received a vote of 7%.

 

We hope to co-create a webinar series that is tailored to the needs of governance reformers. In order to help us do this,  please kindly complete this short survey.

 

If you would like to participate in the next Account4COVID webinar and/or in the initiative more broadly please do feel free to reach out at acc4covid@gmail.com.  This initiative, although limited to COVID19 and TAP in Africa,  is open to any and all organizations interested in joining the initiative. Join the initiative and continue conversations offline!

Role Of Parliament During The COVID-19 Pandemic

Lindelwa Nxele

Written by  Henry Ndlovu, May 2020; the original article can be accessed here.

Introduction

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus (Covid 19), which has become a global pandemic, has profoundly transformed the manner human beings and organizations conduct their daily business. Parliaments across the globe have not been spared from the disruptive effects of Covid 19. However, since Parliament is a creature of the Constitution, its mandate and functions cannot be willy-nilly ‘locked-down’. Hence, despite the constraining situation brought about by Covid 19 preventive measures, Parliaments cannot afford to suspend their cardinal functions indefinitely or for inordinately long periods. Doing so will not only be a dereliction of duty but a breach of their constitutional mandate. Given that the pandemic has necessitated formulation of emergency laws and policies, mobilization and re-allocation of public resources, there is, therefore, a justified need than ever before for Parliament to provide the necessary checks and balances to guard against the excesses of the Executive.

Parliaments, therefore, need to develop and implement innovative ways of conducting their constitutional functions given that their traditional ways of doing business have been rendered practically impossible by Covid 19. This paper seeks to explore some of the innovative strategies that Parliaments can implement during the subsistence of the Covid 19 preventive measures so as to ensure that they continue executing their constitutional mandate.

Impact of Covid 19 on Parliament’s Business

Parliaments across the world generally have three basic functions recognized by law, in most cases the national Constitution, and these are; law-making, oversight and representation. However, the Covid 19 pandemic and in particular, the implementation of preventive measures recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other international and national agencies have adversely impacted the conventional ways Parliaments are accustomed to in conducting their business. In carrying out the aforementioned functions, the law and parliamentary procedures require Members of Parliament (MPs) to physically assemble at the Parliament building, or to be precise in the Chamber, during plenary session or in committee rooms during deliberative committee meetings.

However, lockdown measures have severely affected Parliament’s ability to meet physically or in-person yet this is the crucial time when Parliament should be meeting frequently to respond to the rapidly evolving crisis by passing appropriate legislation and approving supplementary budgets in response to the demands of the pandemic as well as monitoring government actions. Otherwise, if Parliaments do not innovate but succumb to lockdown measures, their powers and functions will be usurped by the Executive. In fact, this is already happening in some countries as evidenced by the enactment of statutory instruments and budget reprioritization by the Executive without the involvement of Parliament. As suggested below, Parliaments can still remain relevant and play their constitutional duties even during a lockdown period by adapting to the demands of the current situation.

Many parliamentary jurisdictions recognize and embrace the right of citizens to participate in parliamentary business in various ways and some of these ways involve physical human interaction such as public hearings and oral evidence sessions or briefing sessions. In Zimbabwe, this right is enshrined in section 141 of the Constitution. Parliamentary portfolio committees usually criss-cross the country soliciting the views of the public on Bills and key public policies. The Covid 19 preventive measures create a challenge for this to be done. However, Parliaments can still gather public views through other means such as social media platforms and live radio public hearings as explained in greater detail below.

 

Main Focus of Parliament during Covid 19

During a crisis or an emergency situation, the role of Parliament cannot be business as usual given that the situation may require a radical shift from Parliament’s current business or routine to the enactment of emergency laws and supplementary budgets to deal with the situation at hand. It is, therefore, postulated here that during the subsistence of the Covid 19 lockdown period, the focus of Parliaments should be redirected to the following key areas;

  1. Enacting emergence laws in response to the pandemic
  2. Approval of supplementary budgets or budget reprioritization
  • Oversight on government borrowings and debt management
  1. Oversight on government decisions and actions with respect to policy formulation and implementation as well as public resource management
  2. Representational role of MPs in Constituencies

Innovative Strategies of Conducting Parliamentary Business during Covid 19

In order to perform the above-mentioned duties during a crisis situation, Parliaments have to adapt their conventional ways of doing things and embrace new strategies as observed by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)[1] among its members. Some of these strategies involve the following;

 

  • Physical Sittings of Parliament

Parliaments can still meet physically to transact their business but in a manner that observes the WHO guidelines on Covid 19, particularly the observance of social distancing requirement and the use of appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE). Given the large size of some Parliaments, this may necessitate reducing the number of Members of Parliament (MPs) that may meet at any given time. Parliamentary presiding officers and political parties represented in Parliament can devise an appropriate formula. In this situation, Parliament should only meet to deal with urgent business such as passing a supplementary budget to provide additional resources needed to effectively implement Covid 19 preventive measures. In addition to supplementary budget, it is crucial also for Parliament to approve government’s borrowings during this Covid 19 period as more resources are mobilized either through domestic borrowing or from multilateral lending institutions in order to mitigate the effects of the pandemic. In Zimbabwe, this important responsibility for Parliament is clearly spelt-out in the Constitution, Public Finance Management Act and the Public Debt Management Act. Such sittings of Parliament may also be done if there are urgent pieces of legislation to be passed in response to the Covid 19 pandemic to ensure that decisions and actions taken by implementers are done within the confines of the law.

Besides urgent plenary business of Parliament as discussed above, it is also crucial for relevant Portfolio Committees to continue meeting so as to provide oversight on the Executive. Again necessary measures should be put in place and strictly adhered to ensure that safety of Committee Members and staff attending such meetings is guaranteed. In this case, it is very crucial for the Portfolio Committee on Health to be given a latitude to meet regularly in order to provide effective oversight during the subsistence of the pandemic. This is so because most government efforts and resources are being redirected to the health sector. The Budget Committee and the Public Accounts Committee should also be allowed to meet to ensure that public resources and finance are used transparently and accounted for. It may also be necessary for a Portfolio Committee that deals with social welfare issues to meet in order to ensure that vulnerable members of society; e.g. People with disabilities, orphans, elderly etc, receive government support during the Covid 19 lockdown period. Other parliamentary portfolio committees should only be allowed to meet as and when an urgent need has arisen.

In order to limit the presence of MPs within Parliament’s premises in line with the social distancing requirement, portfolio committees may alternate their meeting days and also committee members can alternate attending these meetings. This can assist in decongesting Parliament’s premises.

  • Virtual Sittings of Parliament

Where Parliaments cannot meet physically even in limited ways as discussed above, the only other possible option is transacting business virtually. For many Parliaments, this may be an uncharted territory and as a result may present some teething problems. However, as noted by IPU, many Parliaments have had to resort to “remote working tools” despite the technical and security challenges involved. Some of the virtual platforms that some Parliaments are employing in transacting their business include Skype, Zoom, Webinar, YouTube, Facebook, Whatsapp among others. Zoom, because of its flexibility to accommodate a large group of participants, has become the most popular social media tool. The British Parliament adopted a policy to temporarily conduct its plenary sittings on Zoom and has since been doing this until mid-May when the policy will be reviewed[2]. South African parliamentary committees have adopted the YouTube platform for conducting live meetings.

As illustrated by the above-cited examples, it is possible for parliamentary committees to transact business without meeting physically but virtually on any platform of their choice to deliberate and make recommendations to the Executive on issues related to Covid 19. Some of the pertinent issues that have come to the fore in many countries since the advent of the coronavirus pandemic, which require the attention of parliamentary committees include;

  1. Additional financial resources to the health sector
  2. Scrutiny of emergency laws
  • Preparedness of the healthcare systems and facilities to manage Covid 19 pandemic
  1. Oversight on the procurement, provision and distribution of PPE
  2. Human rights abuses arising from the enforcement of lockdown measures
  3. Oversight on public finance expenditure
  • Oversight on financial donations/grants for Covid 19
  • Transparency and Accountability regarding social safety nets; identification of beneficiaries, distribution of relief etc
  1. Provision of water and sanitation services
  2. Food production and supply chains (access, availability, affordability of basic commodities and incentives to farmers)
  3. Economic stimulus packages for the industry (sources of funding, terms, etc)

Constituency Activities

Through their representational role, MPs can still perform their constituency related duties during the Covid 19 lockdown period. Many countries have created Covid 19 Response Teams/ Task-forces to coordinate the implementation of Covid 19 measures. These teams operate both at national and local levels and members are drawn from various government departments. MPs have a duty, therefore, to monitor how these teams are carrying out their duties. If they observe challenges or problems in the manner these teams are discharging their duties, MPs will be within their mandate to bring up such issues to the attention of the Executive or relevant institutions in order to have those challenges addressed.

A number of governments have scaled up social welfare programmes to provide social safety nets to vulnerable members of society whose numbers have swelled due to Covid 19 lockdown measures. It is, therefore, within the duty of MPs to oversee the identification of beneficiaries and distribution of social protection relief in their constituencies to ensure transparency and accountability. This will ensure that such social protection assistance reaches deserving beneficiaries and thus guard against corruption and partisan distribution of such relief assistance.

Given that Portfolio Committees cannot conduct field visits to physically assess the preparedness of healthcare facilities vis-à-vis Covid 19, MPs can fill this void in their constituencies and share information so gathered with the relevant portfolio committees through virtual platforms. The relevant committees can then deliberate on the issue and come up with recommendations to the Executive.

MPs can also play a crucial role in raising the awareness of the public regarding Covid 19 and disseminate information in their constituencies regarding measures being implemented by government to combat the spread of the disease. In this regard, MPs can collaborate with civil society organizations (CSOs) and community radio stations to disseminate relevant information to the constituents. In most rural constituencies Whatsapp has proven to be the most popular social media platform. This is, therefore, another tool that MPs can make use of and thus be able to play their representative role despite constraints brought about by Covid 19 pandemic. However, in carrying out their constituency duties, MPs need to be exemplary in adhering to prevention measures so that they are seen to be practising what they preach to their constituents.

Conclusion

There are no signs in the horizons that the Covid 19 pandemic will vanish any time soon given that it takes time to develop effective vaccines. Parliaments should, therefore, adapt to the new reality and realign their procedures and processes accordingly. The only way for Parliament to remain a relevant pillar of democratic governance in the face of Covid 19 pandemic is to harness new technologies in executing its constitutional mandate and functions. Parliament cannot afford to ‘lockdown’ its functions as this gives the Executive the ruse to assume those functions thereby eroding the vital principle of checks and balances. There is need for accountability by government even during a crisis; on how public resources are being used for instance.  This helps to curtail potential Executive excesses of power and public resource utilization or management.

PSAM June 2020 Newsletter_ COVID-19 Special Issue

Lindelwa Nxele

The global community is witnessing a new era propelled by the viral threat at our door step. In a span of two months, from March 2020 when the threat of COVID-19 became prominent, the world has been thrown into a state of crisis and forced to adapt in order to survive.

This newsletter contains thoughts around how civil society, the leaders and the government can work together to move forward and use the opportunities that come with COVID-19 to plan and secure a better future, not only in matters of the public’s socio-economic wellbeing, but also in-terms of biodiversity and environmental wellbeing. It’s also important to learn how various actors have been adapting and the different methods they have been applying to ensure that their work continues to bring about the desired objectives, not only in-terms of monitoring the use of resources, but also in facilitating teaching and learning to relevant stakeholders. Therefore, in this newsletter, PSAM staff and partners share their opinion pieces and experiences with an aim to bring about awareness, solidarity and encourage innovative engagement to fight COVID-19 and improve lives.

For more, you can access the newsletter here

UCT Africa Month Virtual Symposium Series 27-29 May

Lindelwa Nxele

UCT is hosting a virtual symposium focusing on African Innovations during COVID-19.

EVENT SUB-THEMES AND TOPICS

  • Knowledge systems and knowledge production on the Continent
  • Why has Africa been less impacted by COVID 19?
  • Unpacking the climate change and development nexus in Africa: Moving beyond obligations to opportunities
  • Pan African reflections on leadership and good governance during COVID 19: good practice, challenges and opportunities
  • COVID 19 philanthropy in Africa

For more information, visit https://www.news.uct.ac.za/features/uct-africa-month/

 

Open Letter to SADC Secretariat on COVID-19

Lindelwa Nxele

Original Post by Zukiswa Kota available here.

On 22 May, members of our community of practice of social accountability practitioners in Sub-Saharan Africa wrote a letter to the Secretariat of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Representing organisations in Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, we call on the SADC Secretariat to bring our COVID-19 related concerns to the attention of all SADC member states.

Read the full letter which outlines recommendation for ways in which regional leaders can fulfil their obligations to safeguard human rights and lives during this period: Endorsed Open Letter to SADC Secretariat_22 May 2020.

COPASAH Webinar on COVID -19: Regional Experiences and Voices- Reflecting Ground Realities

Lindelwa Nxele

Happening on April 24 (Friday) 3.30 pm IST, 10.00 am GMT

CLICK HERE TO PARTICIPATE  
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8732132213

 

As different countries across the globe are grappling with COVID -19, COPASAH brings solidarity to all the practitioners and pro-people advocates who are at the forefront defending, tackling, responding to and dealing with this pandemic. COPASAH is proud to engage and associate with the incredible organizations, members and practitioners across different regions of the world- civil society organizations, health care providers including frontline health workers, researchers and academia, professional bodies to mention but few – concerned with the wellbeing of the vulnerable communities and the disadvantaged.

To highlight upon the regional aspects of the COVID -19 pandemic and the efforts being pursued to deal with it, COPASAH in this webinar brings to you regional voices showcasing the ground realities and experiences.