CDF GROSS BREACH OF SEPARATION OF POWERS

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BY GEORGINA KEKEA

THE Constituency Development Fund (CDF) audit report 2009 to 2012 has cited significant problems with the CDF as a method of rural poverty relief.

The report released by the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) says the use of such funds has a number of serious deficiencies with breaching the separation of powers as one of them.

In 1978 when the country gained independence, it committed itself to the principle of ‘Separation of Powers’.

In the preamble to the constitution it is clearly stated that all the power in the Solomon Islands belongs to its people and is exercised on their behalf by the legislature, the executive and the judiciary.

However in this instance, the CDF is said to breach this principle. The CDF report stated that the separation of power is meant to reduce the risk of poor governance by limiting the authority of each branch of government.

The report says that this division also allows citizens to seek redress if one of the branches should act against their interests.

“In most recent examples, the separation of powers has helped the judiciary and the legislature to limit the power of the executive, as  is the case when legislatures use audit reports to hold the executive to account for the implementation of the budget.In the budget system of democratic states, the most important manifestation of the separation of powers is that the legislature enacts the budget and evaluates, but is not directly involved in, its implementation. It determines the rules of the game and pronounces on whether these have been followed but does not “play the game” itself — it is the executive that manages and spends the budget”, the CDF report says.

However the OAG noted that the CDF schemes appear to breach the separation of powers by conferring the executive powers of budget implementation on MPs.

The CDF report made reference to a court in Kenya to explain what it means in this breach;“any outfit that is composed of Members of Parliament and is charged with expenditure of public funds is mingling of roles of the different organs of state in a manner that is unacceptable… it would be against the constitutional principle of the separation of powers for Members of Parliament to take part in actual spending, then submit their annual estimates to themselves in Parliament through the Public Accounts Committee”.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is mandated to examine the public accounts prescribed by Section 38 of the Finance and Audit Act 1978, together with the report of the Auditor General. The PAC can also summon any public officer to give information on any explanation or to produce any records or documents which the committee requests.  

According to information from the National Parliament, another main area of responsibility of the PAC is to consider the Draft Estimates prepared by the Government in support of the Annual Appropriation Bill. The Auditor-General or his nominee shall be the Secretary to the Committee and shall make available to the Committee the services of his staff and other facilities of his office.

ENDS///




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