12 Mar 2019

Parliament has pleaded with government to sanction the Auditor General to be an independent body detached from the Office of the President.

Contributing to the debate on the Auditor General’s budget proposals, MP for Selebi Phikwe West, Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse emphasised the importance of having an independent Auditor General, saying it was crucial for effective governance.

Mr Keorapetse stated that the Auditor General should be capacitated to carry out investigations and performance and forensic audits on parastatals and companies engaged on government projects.

He said it was important to have more independent oversight institutions that would carry out their duties independly without restriction from the Office of the President.

He said the Auditor General should be directly accountable to Parliament and report to the governance and oversight parliamentary committee with the Public Accounts Committee being the main advisory during its examination of accounts. 

Gaborone Central legislator, Dr Phenyo Butale stated that the enrolment of the Auditor General under Parliament would strengthen its independence as it would be reporting directly to Parliament.

To make the desired impact and be relevant and effective at all levels of governance, Dr Butale stated that the Office of the Auditor General must be independent to enable it to carry out independent investigations and performance audits as wel as provide oversight of the executive.

Dr Butale also said the National Assembly should effect an amendment to specifically include the Office of the Auditor General in the constitution. 

He said it would not only guarantee the independence of the office, but would also give it confidence hence enhance job performance at a critical level of auditing for public accountability.

He said an independent Auditor General would promote transparency, accountability and integrity in public financial reporting. 

Commenting, Gaborone Bonnington South MP, Mr Ndaba Gaolathe observed that the institution was under performing as a result of under funding and misplacement within the three arms of government.

Mr Gaolathe argued that the world over, the Auditor General’s office was adequately funded to enable it to perform in terms of conducting value-for-money audits, particularly with regard to mega-projects where governments often experienced leakages.

Furthermore, he noted that in more advanced democracies, the Office of the Auditor General was placed within the legislative arm of government and not within the executive as it was the case in Botswana.

He said placing it within the legislature would give the office the independence it needed to discharge its mandate effectively.

MP for Jwaneng/Mabutsane, Mr Shawn Ntlhaile also advocated for an independent Auditor General’s office, highlighting that its independence was fundamental to public accountability. 

Mr Ntlhaile stated that its independence would assist government in curbing corruption in the country.

He pleaded with government to fully equip and capacitate the Auditor General with manpower to reach its mandate of promoting accountability through quality audits in the public sector, which would ultimately assure the nation that public resources were applied for purposes intended. ENDS