The Importance of Accountability in Public Leadership.

Citizens make decisions everyday on trust. They believe that taxes qualify to constructing roads and schools. They believe in the public officials acting in the best interests of the country rather than for their own. They believe that leaders are truthful, do what they say they will do, and hold them to account for their actions. When that trust is honoured, societies thrive. A broken bond leads to frustration, to hurting economies and to erosion of trust in government. Accountability in public leadership is a must. It is the key to good government.

What’s the point of this exercise?Why is this an exercise of Accountability?

When it comes to accountability, people have a misunderstanding. Others believe that it is punishment if something goes wrong. Some people view it as a catchy phrase with little or no value. Really, accountability is a much simpler and deeper matter. The role of leaders is to make decisions, own up to results and deal with the consequences of their choices if they are unsuccessful.

There are three key components to accountability. First of all, there needs to be transparency. The public has the right to know what the country is doing, how the money is being spent and the outcomes of the spending. There can be no accountability without transparency. Second, there has to be accountability. Leaders need to be prepared to justify their decisions, answer questions and give reasons for what they are doing. Thirdly, it must be enforceable. If leaders are not fulfilling their duties, there need to be consequences, either through elections, legal or removal from office.

The Economic Impact of Unaccountable Leadership

Lack of accountability has dire and instant repercussions. The public money goes down the drain. The projects are abandoned midway as funds get exhausted or diverted by those handling the funds. Roads should last for decades, but they wear out in months due to the lack of quality materials from contractors and inspectors looking the other way. Hospitals lack medicines. Schools lack teachers. The leaders who are responsible have no consequences.

Not only is there waste in using resources, there is also loss of trust in unaccountable leaders. Citizens lose faith in the significance of their voice. They cease to pay taxes. They are hesitant to interact with government services. Others seek through protest or violence to change things. Others just retreats, believing that it can't get any better. A culture of mistrust and disengagement is hard to overcome. In a few years, unaccountable leadership can destroy, but it takes generations to rebuild.

Accountability in African Context

The quest for accountability has a long history in Africa. In numerous countries, inherited institutions were ones that were created to control and not serve. Civil servants were organized to obey orders, not people. Paper-based oversight mechanisms were in place but were not effective due to lack of power or independence.

There has been some progress in recent decades. Various anti-corruption agencies, public procurement supervison institutions and audit institutions have been launched in many African countries. Some have developed citizen feedback systems, where normal citizens can report problems and monitor government performance. Others have allowed civil society organisations to oversee the budgets and project implementation.

However, the implementation of the policy is lagging behind. Anti-corruption agencies tend to be poorly resourced or politically compromised. Often, whistleblowers who are the first to reveal wrongdoing are subject to retaliation rather than protection. The only punishment for politicians who let down their voters is that they will lose next year's election, which may be years down the road.

The citizen's part in holding accountable.

Leaders are not the only ones responsible for accountability. The role of citizens is key. The best safeguard against public leadership is an informed and active citizenry. Citizens ask questions, seek explanations and organise for changes and leaders listen.

The most fundamental accountability is voting, but it's not sufficient. Citizens are able to attend town hall meetings, request government documents, attend budget hearings, and report corruption to oversight bodies between elections. Journalists can investigate and publish stories that have the power to hold power to account. The citizens can be trained by civil society organisations about their rights and push for systemic changes.

As technology evolves, new opportunities are emerging for citizen oversight. Mobile apps enable citizens to report infrastructure failures, monitor government initiatives and provide feedback on public services. Social media platforms facilitate quick dissemination of information on wrongdoing. Civic Action: Online petitioning provides tools for citizens to demand action. These tools are not a substitute for formal accountability mechanisms, but can complement those mechanisms.

The Foundation's motto is transparency.Transparency is the Foundation's motto.

If there's no transparency, there can be no accountability. If citizens don't know what citizens' leaders are doing, then they can't hold them accountable. Transparency is the ability to communicate ahead of time what the government is doing, how it is spending money, its contracts, and its achievement of results. It implies to make this information accessible in a format that people can understand.

There are some impressive progressions with respect to transparency by governments in Africa. The online procurement channels enable citizens to learn who won contracts and how much. Open budget portals provide information on the amount spent by each ministry and the amount earmarked for them. Progress of infrastructure development is monitored in real-time on project dashboards. These innovations are real ones that move forward.

However, transparency cannot be a goal per se. Information for accountability is only meaningful when citizens are able and willing to take action in response. Making budget information available online doesn't prove to be very effective if most citizens do not have access to the internet or the skills to analyze the data. To be effective, complex information needs to be broken down into simple messages and communicated in the local language, via radio and community meetings.

Strengthening Institutions

People are important but institutions are more important. One decent leader can help, but good institutions are essential for good accountability, which is lasting. Accountable governance is supported by independent judiciaries, empowered audit offices, effective anti-corruption agencies and free media.

Such institutions must be safeguarded by law from political domination. They need adequate funding to do their work. They require leadership on merit, not political affiliation. Mechanisms are required for coordination – so that audit results result in prosecution – and court verdicts in turn result in implementation.

The role of parliaments is very significant. Legislators are the “voices” of the people whose duty it is to check the authority of the executive branch. They may call for the presence of ministers to be questioned, check on budget proposals, investigate wrongdoing and enact legislation that enhances accountability systems. Lack of accountability is a result of weak or compliant parliaments.

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