A delegation comprising of Members and parliamentary staff of the National Assembly’s Finance and Public Accounts Committee (FPAC) attended a Regional Workshop for African Public Accounts Committees (PACs) in Lusaka, Zambia from the 30th of October to the 1st of November 2023. Hon. Sandy Arissol, Hon. Richard Labrosse and the Deputy Clerk to the National Assembly, Ms. Alexandria Faure attended the workshop, which saw the participation of other Parliaments across the Commonwealth namely, the National Assembly of Gambia, Parliament of Ghana, National Assembly of Malawi, National Assembly of Namibia, Parliament of Sierra Leone, Legislative Council of St Helena, and the UK Parliament. The workshop was organised by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK (CPA UK) in collaboration with the National Assembly of Zambia. CPA UK’s core work is to build relationships with parliaments across the Commonwealth focusing on priority themes such as women in parliament, tackling modern slavery, security, PACs, and international trade.
The three-day workshop was officially opened by the First Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Zambia Hon. Malungo A. Chisangano MP, the Clerk of the Assembly Mr. Roy Ngulube and the Chairperson of the UK PAC Dame Meg Hillier on the 30th of October. The delegates participated in beneficial and highly specialized trainings and panel discussions on benchmarking their respective Committees and functions, conducting effective inquiries, managing parliamentary resources, effective questioning skills, and techniques for the PACs, handling sensitive information, measuring impact of the PACs, engaging the media and youth, including producing effective reports and making strong recommendations. The Seychelles delegation were actively involved in the workshops with Hon. Arissol and Hon. Labrosse participating as rapporteurs to specific round table discussions, reporting back on conclusions and solutions brought forward to the delegates present. Hon. Labrosse shared that the workshop “was very interesting whereby as a new Member of the FPAC, I learnt about the practices of other countries and found that through the benchmarking the FPAC of Seychelles is following transparent and best parliamentary practices”, as well as looking forward to sharing his learning experience with the Committee once back in Seychelles.
Hon. Arissol expressed that “it was a fruitful workshop whereby we were able to put forward strong propositions on how we can better serve our FPAC and empower our parliamentary staff. It is also good to note that through the benchmarking, we are comforted to know that our Committee is on the right track and doing immense work for our small island.”
The delegates then had the unique opportunity to attend the Valedictory Service of the former Speaker of the National Assembly of Zambia, the Rt. Hon. Amusaa Katunda Mwanamwambwa, MP, GCDS, of whom had passed away several days prior. The Service took place in the Chamber of the Parliament on Tuesday 31st of October 2023.
As part of the official programme, the Deputy Clerk, Ms. Faure facilitated a round table discussion alongside the Senior Clerk at the Table Office of the UK, Mr. Ben Rayner, with the respective Committee Clerks and parliamentary officials on ‘Using Parliamentary Resources Effectively to Prepare and Manage Inquiries’ which involved proactive exchanges of procedural practices on managing effective inquiries and witnesses that appear before the respective Committees during hearings.
Ms. Faure also served as a panelist in another session focusing on ‘Effective Questioning Skills and Techniques for PACs’ alongside the Chairperson of the PAC of Ghana Hon. James Klutse Avedzi, the Chairperson of the PAC of Zambia Hon. Warren Mwambazi, and the Chairperson of the United Kingdom PAC Dame Meg Hillier. Ms. Faure expressed that “the sessions with the parliamentary officials and Committee Clerks was a great learning experience and provided deep insights into the diverse procedural practices in the different legislatures. It is deeply important for parliamentary officials to connect and share best practices, which is key to ensuring the continuous development of parliamentary services to Committees, the role of oversight and the parliamentary institutions as a whole”.
The delegates who participated in the workshop had open discussions on the functions of their PACs, the challenges, and successes of their work. Many remarked and highlighted the importance of the independence of the PACs to ensure there is constant measurement of performance, oversight on the expenditure of public funds, engagement with the media and youth and following up on recommendations to keep the government accountable. The delegates called for more connectivity with small legislatures in the commonwealth and due to budgetary constraints more trainings made available online.
