OPC justifies order on parliamentary committees

The Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) has justified its order for parliamentary committees to meet own expenses when they visit or meet statutory corporations, saying parastatals complained about the financial burden.

In a written response to a questionnaire yesterday, Comptroller of Statutory Corporations Peter Simbani said the background is that State corporations and enterprises raised concern that the requests were never-ending.

“The entities have raised this concern even with the Secretary to the President and Cabinet [SPC], Ms. Colleen Zamba. All this was happening when the parastatals are struggling financially and to be asking them now and again to fund these meetings was not prudent,” he said.

In a brief communication dated May 12 2023, Simbani said government had directed that from now onwards, all requests f rom parliamentary committees or visits to State corporations outside Parliament, especially at the expense of the corporations, be approved by the SPC.

The directive comes at a time when parliamentary committees have expressed disappointment with Zamba’s non-compliance to their call to appear before them at Parliament Building But in their reactions, members of Parliament (MPs) yesterday questioned government’s decision to have parastatals seek approval from the SPC for hosting parliamentary committees, saying this undermines the oversight function of Parliament.

Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament chairperson Mark Botomani said the greatest motivation for MPs to visit parastatals or any other government institution is to play an oversight role.

He said while they can meet parastatals in the precincts of Parliament, there are times they need to visit them to appreciate the situation on the ground.

But Botomani declined to comment on suggestions by other MPs that the SPC could be fighting back using statutory corporations, saying: “I will not comment on the conduct of the SPC. However, I think as Parliament, it’s time we fully embraced independence. The levels of suspicions in matters like this cannot be overlooked.”

An MP, who did not want to be named, backed the SPC’s communication as a timely reminder on why Parliament should not depend on State enterprises for funding to do its job.

The legislator said: “It is highly irregular for State corporations to fund the arm of government that oversees their operations. Parliament would be conflicted in carrying out its duty.”

University of Malawi political scientist Boniface Dulani observed that most of the visits are organised to benefit MPs financially, all the more reason different committees end up duplicating visits to parastatals.

He said the best is for Parliament to have a budget to cater for such visits instead of burdening State corporations.

Renowned political scientist and author on political governance Nandini Patel also believes that Parliament should budget for these meetings and visits.

“How can the arm of government that is empowered to pass the national budget deprive itself funds to perform its own critical duties? There has to be adequate funds provided to Parliament to carry out its vital oversight duties,” she says.

Governance commentator Charles Kajoloweka said while financial prudence is critical in this regard, he fears that the bureaucracy created may undermine the oversight role of Parliament and corporate governance of State corporations.

But Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace national coordinator Boniface Chibwana welcomed the OPC directive, saying with most parastatals surviving on government bailouts, there is need for prudence in the use of resources.

Current practice is that whenever a parastatal invites MPs for a meeting, regardless of their area of residence, it is expected to provide fuel refunds covering a distance from their respective constituencies, just as Parliament would when committees are meeting. This means that a Lilongwe-based MP, but with a constituency in Chitipa would get fuel refund for Chitipa.

MPs receive a DSA of K100 000 and a daily sitting allowance of K20 000 per day.