AN-PBO driving development towards attainment of Agenda 2063

The African Network of Parliamentary Budget Offices (AN-PBO) is aimed at human and institutional capacity development and strengthening by providing useful insights to Members of Parliament into how the budgets impact economies and societies’ development on the continent by driving development towards attainment of the Agenda 2063.

This was revealed by Dr. Dumisani Jantjies, the AN-PBO Covener today at the official opening of the conference that kicked off in Harare today.

The AN-PBO was established in 2016 as a forum for the members’ countries to share experiences and expertise in supporting their MPs in their oversight roles.

“We established this network from our understanding that as a collective, we could make an impact towards the development of our continent through our individual countries and collective support for oversight. Since the establishment of the network, we have seen many PBOs being established within the continent. The establishment of the network was at the background of the conversation and development within the continent of the Africa 2063 developmental Agenda 2063,” Dr. Jantjies said.

Based on the fact that the African continent is different from others in that it has a younger population than many, yet remains less developed, Dr. Jantjies said there is huge potential for the continent to drive its own economic and societal development.

“And, therefore, our Parliaments have an important role in holding the Executives accountable in ensuring that the continent develops towards where we want it to be. Therefore, the PBOs credible research and analysis as technicians are so crucial for MPs to do their jobs.

“When you look around the world, it is clear that the scale of capability or technical expertise or knowledge of MPs varies across the world. This is also affected by the level of economic and societal development. On the other hand, governments require and possess skilled human capital and institutional capacity to deliver services and govern their countries. To keep up with the legislative role of oversight, Parliaments also require administrative capacity (human capital and institutions capacity). Many Parliaments have enacted laws to ensure such capacity is in place, e.g. specialized research units or budget offices or fiscal advisory councils,” Dr. Jantjies said.

The establishment of PBOs or independent fiscal institutions (IFI) is one mechanism adopted by many countries to ensure better technical capacity to support MPs in their fiscal oversight. The level of human capital and institutional capacity requirement in Parliaments is largely dependent on whether the legislature is budget making, budget influencing, or budget approving. Therefore, the AN-PBO has its work cut out in supporting the development of the African continent.

History has shown that the post-2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC):

• Fiscal challenges emerged because governments had to address the economic, fiscal, and socioeconomic difficulties
• Many Parliaments established PBOs or similar Institutions to provide much-needed technical capacity, analysis, and advice, more than 70% of them were established post-GFC
• Parliamentary Budget Offices enhance the role of Parliaments in holding governments accountable on budgets and related service delivery post the crisis
• New Offices were also established in the African continent, many of them established post-GFC

Even During the Global Covid-19 Pandemic PBOs’ support for their Parliaments includes:

• Providing rapid analysis and briefing to their legislatures on the socioeconomic, macroeconomic, and fiscal impact of the pandemic
• Monitoring the activation and implementation of a government escape clause, as many governments suspended normal budget processes to urgently respond to the Covid-19 economic and social impact
• Providing cost estimates and analysis on government emergency policies or plans, to determine the impact on the economy, and public finances and providing much-needed social relief
• Promoting and ensuring that the principles of transparency and accountability are adhered to during governments implementation of emergency procedures

Since the network was established, many countries are establishing more PBOs or similar entities on the continent, even Zimbabwe’s PBO came into being after the network was established.

At this conference this week, there are hopes to build up from the 2019 Accra conference momentum. Due to Covid-19,  the network was not able to host the 2020 and 2021 Conferences.

In Ghana, an Interim Committee was established to develop and finalise the AN-PBO charter or constitution. The charter has been drafted and one of the Conference’s objectives is to adopt the charter.

The 5th AN-PBO Conference in Harare is intended:

• to scale up on the work that has been done since 2016 (the AN-PBO cannot be a start-up forever moss)
• share our expertise, experience, and challenges in doing our work
• support newly established or aspirant PBOs in scaling up their offices
• to adopt the AN-PBO Charter and Logo that will enable further institutionalization of the network