Ensuring Government’s Financial Accountability: Role of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in 8th and 9th Parliament of Bangladesh

Abstract

This thesis deals with the role of PAC in ensuring financial accountability of the government. To strengthen parliamentary democracy, strengthening PAC is inevitable. Historical and analytical approaches have guided to conduct the study. In terms of data used in the study, it is primarily a qualitative study. However, some quantitative information has been used from secondary sources. Generally, the study found that the PAC in Bangladesh has a mixed record of its performance in comparison with developed and developing democracies in controlling the government by holding it accountable. It lags far behind other developed parliamentary democracies in Western Europe and Commonwealth countries in terms of institutional setup, real implications and ways of workings. The mere existence of PAC does matter and make a psychological impact in the minds of the people concerned with executive and they remain careful to deal with public money, so that every piece of public money may be spent as per financial regulations and for the benefits of the people. It also conveys the message that nobody is above the surveillance of the accountability process. PAC is overwhelmed within numerous challenges right from formation to acceptance and implementation of committee recommendations. The study identified these challenges from two perspectives: structural and behavioural. The structural aspect includes the challenges such as the PAC structure (to appoint the chairperson from the opposition party, to make an open-access of mass media and to arrange the public hearing, shortage of staff to monitor the progress of the implementation of PAC recommendations, lack of research and evaluation wing, no mandatory provision and certain mechanisms to follow up the progress of implementation of the committee recommendations, the trend to set up the committee lately (months or years) after the beginning of a new parliament. The challenges outside the PAC structure include the shortage of skilled, experienced and professional manpower and inadequate functional independence of OCAG. On the other hand, the behavioural challenges comprise the social standing of the members (occupation, education, the experience of the members, and leadership role of PAC chairman); nature of the political system, political culture, nature of bureaucracy, executive-legislature relations, etc. By analyzing all these reasons, I have argued that the performance of PAC in ensuring financial accountability of the government has been less effective in Bangladesh. Having structurally well designed political system in Bangladesh, in practice it is lacking the application of separation of powers; rather than the dominance of the executive headed by the prime minister is overlapping with the other branches. As a result, the process of institutionalization of several branches of the political system is being jeopardized and lost its intrinsic capacity to work as an effective organization. In such ground realities, it appears as a challenge to the members of PAC to work independently and impartially with professionalism in Bangladesh. Such domination is also very much discernible in the process of the formation of PAC. Though the selection and appointment of the committee chair and members are carried out with a motion by the house, the final list of committee chairs and members of different committees including PAC must win the nod of the Prime Minister. As a result, the role of members in the committee largely remains dependent on the willingness of the executive. There are several reasons for such a dependent relationship like tight party regulation, fear to be unpopular to the party leaders and to lose nomination in the next election as the parties are not following democratically candidate selection process in elections, and parochial political culture. Because of such structural and behavioural challenges, the effective role of PAC to ensure financial accountability seemed not up to the mark. As a result, the PAC has been witnessing an erratic performance. With all these challenges, the PAC in the eighth and ninth parliament had been working according to its due mandate. For making an effective PAC in Bangladesh, it is urgently needed to make an accountability culture in all the levels of public offices as well as political institutions. PAC in Bangladesh has a lot of scopes to develop regarding its practice and procedure. It is, therefore, imperative to strengthen the institutional capacities, to enhance professionalism, to institutionalize democracy and democratic institutions for an effective accountable system in Bangladesh.