Accountability to multiple stakeholders: Politicians, citizens and customers.

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Juniper Hicks
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1 Accountable Governance: role of Government Accountability to multiple stakeholders: Politicians, citizens and customers. We sometimes talk about three main public administration models: traditional public administration, public management, including NPM, and responsive governance. Each one of these models places very distinct responsibilities on the senior officials that run the civil service. For example, the traditional public administration model emphasizes hierarchical accountability of senior officials to ministers etc., while the responsive governance model broadens this accountability to wider stakeholders such as citizens and customers. This means that senior public officials also see it as their responsibility to protect the interests and wellbeing of citizens and customers, not only to be accountable to politicians. As a parliamentarian, I would like to share some views with you on: 1. How I see the responsibility of senior public officials, in this new governance paradigm; 2. What I think they should be mostly concerned about when it comes to service delivery, public policy making, etc.; 3. How I think the expanded accountability of senior public officials would affect their work and how they relate to different stakeholders. To answer these questions we will draw from the implementation of governance paradigm in Cameroon and experiences of other countries shared through the Interparliamentarian Union. 1. How do I see the responsibility of senior officials in the new governance paradigm? The responsibility of senior officials is involved in the context of new governance paradigm through: A national enabling environment, namely: Constitutional and legal framework, Institutional setting, Policy environment Strategies based on decentralization process & and political as well as economical liberalization New role of local stakeholders, local government, senior officials, civil society (NGO s, users ) Ethics advances, core public service values, and standards in public service as published long ago must also be taken into account. As a matter of fact, in 1996, the United Nations promulgated an International Code of Conduct for Public Officials. This document aimed at setting a precedent for countries drafting their own mandatory codes of conduct.

2 In Cameroon, a post colonial developing country, the current practice is the traditional public administration model, though the concept of good governance appeared for the first time in December 1995, in President BIYA s address to the National Assembly. Following this, since January 1996, it has been implemented through the creation of a National Program of Governance, under the auspices of UNDP, with specific missions based on two main axis: - Political governance (the commitment to achieve the public good) which implies: A democratical constitution, including fundamental human and political rights; Transparent democratic process Decentralization process Independent judiciary system Independent and free medias An organised civil society Reinforced institutional capacities A fight against corruption policy; Human rights protection. - Economic and private companies governance based on: A code of good practices on transparency in monetary; A code of good practices on fiscal transparency ; Also codes of good practices for: a. Budget transparency; b. Public debt monitoring; c. Business ethics in management principles; d. International level in accounting operations and auditing e. Watchdogs and banks supervision principles. This is more a technical dimension of the paradigm, meaning ability or bureaucratic competence to efficiently manage public affairs. The above codes are published in order to hold public officials, especially senior public officials, to such standards. The relevant objective is to meet the international standards requirements referred to as accountability, management effectiveness, information availability, leadership Jeremy Pope, in his contribution to this forum, titled Dimensions of transparency in governance has defined seven main areas where senior public responsibility could be fetched - selflessness- senior officials should take decisions solely in terms of public interest. They should not do so in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or friends - integrity-holders of public offices should not place themselves under any financial or other obligation to outside individuals or organisations that might influence them in the performance of their official duties. - objectivity- in carrying out public business, including making public appointments, awarding contracts, or recommending individuals for rewards and benefits, holders of public offices should base their choices on merit. - accountability-senior public officials are accountable for their decisions and actions to the public and must submit themselves to whatever scrutiny is appropriate to their office.

3 - openness-senior public officials should be as open as possible about all the decisions and actions that they take. They should give reasons for their decisions and restrict information only when the wider public interest clearly demands. - honesty-senior public officials have a duty to declare any private interests relating to their public duties and to take steps to solve any conflicts arising in a way that protects the public interests. - leadership-senior public officials should promote and support these principles by leadership and example. But looking closely at the above, one comes to the conclusion that it is Leadership which is at stake. In Cameroon, under the supervision of the National Governance Plan, the above principles have been put forward but there is still a lack of obvious transparency. Citizens Charters is one of the recent innovations intending to improve public sector accountability and senior public officials as well. In Cameroon, this innovation will probably be looked as a positive step to enforce some isolated attempts as seen in hospitals, high way roads and customs offices where written exposed notices clearly prevent public from giving briberies to officials as they are reminded to pay the official rate for services. Also we can mention the popular government sensitisation for fight against corruption inviting among other incitations, the public to denounce corruption cases and ensuring anyone doing so, with an efficient state protection system, if necessary, as planned in the National Governance Program. Cameroon government intends to elaborate and publish a civil servant Code of Ethic. By means of laws and country regulations inspired by Responsive Governance paradigm, Cameroon government aims at increasing senior public officials accountability not only visà- vis of ministers or internal hierarchies, but also towards citizens and civil society as a whole. In this context, their responsibility will lead them to promote changes both in thinking and practices, this entails proper training programms. Responsibilty can also be fetched through scrutiny of cultural background: -Gifts. It is alleged that in Africa and particularly in Cameroon, gift-giving culture is a major problem worsened by poor salaries paid to public officials. The national anti corruption commission in the Prime Minister s Office is currently at work trying to crush down this phenomenon. -Conflict of interest is also one of the cultural consequences encountered since tribal or regional interest in many instances monitor officials personal conduct. In order to reduce this bad governance practice, decentralization seems to be one of the keys. Among the strategic objectives of the National Governance Program, we can mention: - The promotion of a genuine accountability and responsibility culture in public business management;

4 - The reinforcement of transparency in the Government system against corruption with an appropriate plan of actions with some key issues such as: Implementation of performance measurement of public administration, with an emphasis on development service; Progressive implementation of decentralisation reforms to promote local democracy and development processes; Participative economic and social development and management, through a better structural organisation of civil society and capacities enhancement; A strongly engaged fight against corruption through the working out of a governmental plan and the materialisation of a wide campaign of sensitisation, education and moralisation aiming at increasing public and private moral awareness. As far as senior officials responsibilities are concerned, some gaps still remain to be filled: They are not devoted to the creation of added value towards the public, as the practice of the relationship of the type customers suppliers is not yet part of the Cameroonian administrative customs. Naturally, their duty to report is centred on the internal hierarchies and not on the customers in a formal way.here one identifies a need for sensitization and training of the high Cameroonian executives, through programs of capacities enhancement, stemming from the management of human resources. Stakes being the effective implementation of good governance and the structural adjustment versus the point of completion of the initiative HIPC, intended to allow finding a margin of budgetary operation, to achieve the program of poverty alleviation. The National Program of Governance puts a special stress on: - promote a real culture of responsibility in the management of the public affairs; - strengthen the transparency of the state apparatus and fight determinedly against corruption. After this long development, 2. What do I think senior public officials should be mostly concerned about when it comes to: Service delivery: They should be mostly concerned with: adopting a holistically approach in a kind of one stop shop system taking into account the integration of customers with multiple needs; e-administration which enables two way communication and secures service delivery transactions; incorporating NGOs, business and citizens groups views in the service delivery process (client feedback); performance measurement.

5 Monitoring and surveys through NIS (national integrity system) as in New York and Nigeria are not used in the Cameroon though well known by authorities as one of the powerful tools providing methodology to combat corruption, this fight not being simply a goal itself, but rather a part of a larger struggle against official abuse, malfeasance, and misappropriation in all its forms. SIGIPES, which is a computerised system of State Personnel Management, is one encouraging exceptional case we can mention. As a matter of fact it deals with: -The installation of a single data base for the whole government personnel; -The quality control and reliability of above data base informations -The taking in to account, in real time, of all personnel movements. The above mentioned system includes: - Public users information; - Traceability of users files and - A better identification of the work place by users. As far as evaluating officials is concerned, the above mentioned SIGIPES includes an electronic interface named AQUARIUM to allow agents and all public users to follow efficiently their files. Adopting a holistic approach in a kind of one-stop shop is the guideline behind SIGIPES and AQUARIUM, in order to take into account the customer with his/her multiple needs, and enabling electronic inquiries and hopefully complaints in the next future. - Public policy making: When it comes to public policy making, senior officials should be mostly concerned with: partnerships with NGOs and ethic centred groups as the Cameroon Club of Ethics, external watchdogs and laws; transparency, due process, probity, efficiency, community participation, impartiality; social responsiveness. Integrating citizen and business groups needs such as: The right to information. - Access to information is part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 19). This base can be used by senior public officials to make proposals assuming that all information belongs to the public, unless it is clearly proved that the silence is meeting public interests. In Cameroon, the National Governance Program has published the government achievements in the field of governance as well as projects under consideration or being carried out. This report is available on the website: - Promoting positive silence should also part of their job, meaning that any query without officials answer after a reasonable period will be granted with OK automatically. This is actually current practice in Cameroon system of associations licences. - Making priority proposals towards the achievement of changes in thinking and practice in public administration ICT related.

6 In Cameroon, the use of ICTs is the keystone of various projects within the National Governance framework aiming at simplifying the complexities within public administration. In the already mentioned document, senior officials are invited to: - promote moral integrity and public interest culture; - improve the institutional framework of public administration management in responsive governance perspective; - achieve the Millennium Goals for Development; - enhance the partnership between the public and the private sector; - encourage both civil society contributions and the decentralisation process. - records management The following gaps can be underlined in Cameroon as compared with the principles of governance: service delivery: no holistic approach, but rather a strong implication announced in the Chantiers de la gouvernance regarding fight against corruption, states the future elaboration of a Code of ethics of the public official, as well as the elaboration and the publication of manuals of procedures and rules in every ministry. public policy making: the reinforcement of the senior official accountability aspect and the participation of users community We note for that purpose in the quoted document: the sensitization of populations in the fight against the corruption, with notably: o a wide awareness campaign on the legitimacy of the fight against corruption; o the encouragement of the public to denounce with proper authorities acts and signs presuming corruption ; o the assurance of an effective protection to every person who would play an active and positive role in the fight against corruption; o the promotion of civic spirit and moral integrity 3. How do I think the expanded accountability for senior public officials would affect their work and how do they relate to different stakeholders: politicians, citizens and customers? Their work will be accordingly, affected globally (technical, political & social aspects). Some domains can usefully be mentioned:

7 -open Public procurement: The procurement of goods and services by public bodies offer must be closely watched. In Cameroon some watchdogs agencies and prices control processes have been implemented, prior to the fight against procurement corruption. Those Agencies are: -Agence de Régulation des Marchés Publics (ARMP); -Agence de Régulation du Secteur d Electricité (ARSEL); -Agence de Régulation des Télécommunications (ART); -Comités Techniques de Suivi, (CTS), The accountability of senior public officials, very often appointed as managers of those structures is both political and social, as they deal with regulatory agencies in widely consumed goods and services. Politically they have hierarchical accountability; socially they should pay a great attention on the impact of service cost versus the level of buying capacity of users. So they have to develop political impartiality as well as obedience and show loyalty, which is not an easy task. In Cameroon some of those senior officials have been charged of betraying the party, due to their position objectively expressed in a technical domain of national interest. The accountability of senior public officials goes as far as: -Loosing their job, should they be convinced of significant inefficiency denounced both by politicians, business and citizen groups or individual users. -Being granted with awards, through the same means of satisfactory free expression process And now, how do they relate to the different above stakeholders? Politicians remain the power symbol and the relation with senior staff is more obvious, -The so called political impartiality and awareness can be enforced through local representations or committees of National Governance Program. The progressive current decentralization process in Cameroon is giving local senior public officials much more facilities to implement fight against corruption. In a recent article, a local news paper related the imprisonment of a magistrate charged and found guilty of embezzlement and briberies practices in his working place. The event took place at NW Province this year. -Users participation is one of the new challenges resulting from accountability. As a matter of fact in Cameroon, the National Governance Program has planned enhancing citizens voices and participation to public management affairs, as stated in pages 103 & 113 of the year 2004 publication.an edifying example is given by the so called Participatory Development Concept developed by Cameroon Authorities with the support of international community. The objective is the reinforcement of local basic communities in order to develop the tripartite partnership State-Civil Society-Private sector, by means of 4 operational axes, mainly: - projects financing initiated by rural and quarters communities - efficient integration of basic communities in the progressive decentralization process; - local capacities reinforcement to improve technical ability of participatory development actors : as senior public officials

8 touched by decentralization (SG of Mayors); NGOs, Business; diverse users; citizen groups - Adequate infrastructures facilities as computers and tools for decisions making; (cf. pages 123 & 124, Les chantiers de la Gouvernance) - -Developing partnerships with NGOs and associations. In Cameroon we have registered more than NGOs and associations oriented in 13 different domains: from human rights defence to Ethics club, trade unions, not forgetting the mythic club of fight against corruption. All those associations are referred at by authorities as Civil Society and encouraged to public affairs management through the concept of active citizenry. Their action sometimes goes beyond the country boarders to create linkage with UN organisms like Decade Human Rights Education, for example. Senior public officials are thus submitted to several requirements: -Consensus searching process in questions relating to general interest; -citizens and users information -Fight against corruption; -apply relevant laws and regulations Their accountability can lead them to: - Ministers cabinet councils -State High Control; - Chamber of accounting; -Administrative and judiciary chamber of common laws. Moreover other sanctions can be applied against them: -administrative sanctions as per public agent status and other similar text in military and judiciary domains; -financial sanctions: reimbursement debt procedures; -judiciary sanctions: imprisonment for embezzlement, penalties -civil sanctions: interests compensations. Conclusion We have tried to give pertinent answers to questions asked to us, by pointing out the trend of standardised practices in the domain of responsive or good governance paradigm. As a parliamentarian in Cameroon, I observed in my country significant governmental efforts intending to implement the new paradigm of governance. Those efforts are supported by an ambitious National Governance Program coupled with relevant institutional and regulatory changes as: -Piloting Committee; -National Co-ordination. -Active Agencies; -Consultative sectional committees.

9 The Cameroon Government has developed an endowment strategy in favour of the State by providing an institutional framework allowing, among other commodities to empower the senior public officials so that they can play a key role for the new governance challenges. The main difficulties to achieve the paradigm requirements and henceforth the Millennium Goals of Development are cultural and financial. As a matter of fact, responsive governance paradigm entails empowerment of local authorities, senior public officials, citizen groups, NGOs as well as users. It has a cost that should be taken into account more seriously because my country is under the heavily indebted countries initiative program. We expect the international community to financially support our ambitions to go forward. Our cultural inheritance should be also considered, assuming that it may probably represent the most powerful obstacle or rather positive factor if relevant training programs are carried out for that purpose. Again it has a cost we are not able to afford alone.

10 6 th Global Forum on Re-inventing government (Séoul may 2005) WORKSHOP IV ACCOUNTABLE GOVERNANCE: role of government Accountability to multiple stakeholders: politicians, citizens and customers Presented by Hon. Joseph H.OWONA KONO MP, Cameroon. (May 2005)

Informal debate of the General Assembly Promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women 6 8 March 2007

Informal debate of the General Assembly Promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women 6 8 March 2007 I. Introduction The President of the General Assembly invited Member States and observers