The Government of the United Republic of Tanzania Parliament of Tanzania
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THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA PARLIAMENT OF TANZANIA LEGISLATURES SUPPORT PROJECT PHASE TWO (LSP II) 2017-2021 SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES IMPLEMENTED FROM ____________________ JULY- DECEMBER 2017 ____________________ OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY P.O.BOX 941 DODOMA, December 2017 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report covers the implementation of Legislative Support Project Phase (LSP II) activities for the period 1 July until 31 December 2017. In addition to highlighting the activities implemented and expenditure during the said period, the report also reflects on progress towards achievement of each of the project’s outputs. Finally, this being the end of the first year since the commencement of the project, the also highlights challenges and lessons learned in the first year of LSP II. In line with the approved work plan for July to December 2017, during the period under review, activities focused on capacity strengthening for Members of Parliament (MPs), staff and civil society through training workshops, seminars and consultative meetings. During that same period, the project team also started shifting capacity development methodologies to including peer to peer exchange and targeted support to selected parliamentary committees. This also entailed expanding the pool of resource persons and facilitators to include current MPs, government institutions, academics, civil society representatives and National Assembly staff. In addition, the project also supported the development, validation and approval of various knowledge products, guidelines and manuals to enhance the quality of the National Assembly’s legislative, oversight, budgeting and representation, as well as improve opportunities for informed public participation in and interaction with the National Assembly. Thus far, some of the knowledge products that have been developed and approved include guidelines on private member’s bills, private motions and public hearings, as well as those on CSO engagement and field visits. The guidelines on ratification of international agreements were also approved. In this phase of the project, emphasis was also placed on assessing the performance gaps and training needs of both MPs and staff. In this regard, the Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist has been working to enhance the project team’s capacity to better respond to the project’s results framework. This remains work in progress and includes the establishment of an in-house LSP-oriented M & E Task Force. During the period under review, 11 priority indicators were agreed upon and will be tracked during project implementation. In the implementation of the project activities, heads of departments and units in the National Assembly, Chairpersons and Committee Clerks were involved in identifying areas of discussion and appropriate timing for the activities. Also, in all the training workshops, meetings and seminars, the LSP team took the opportunity to explain to the participants about the project in general and objectives of the activity including the expected results. As envisaged in the project document, in August and September 2017, respectively, the project was joined by UNDP-recruited Long Term Technical Advisors (LTTA), namely Chief Technical Advisor and Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, thus completing the project’s implementation team comprising dedicated National Assembly staff as well as two LTTAs. To better improve coordination and build a collective understanding of the project’s theory of change, the project team, along with relevant UNDP staff participated in a strategy retreat. One of the major outcomes of that exercise was the framework of the draft 2018 work plan as well as consensus on modus operandi for conceptualization and design of project activities, monitoring and evaluation, quality assurance and reporting. 2 INTRODUCTION The LSP II (2017- 2021) is a partnership between the National Assembly of Tanzania and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with the support of four development partners, namely Denmark, DFID, Ireland and Sweden (under One UN Fund). This five-year project, which is aligned with the National Assembly’s own strategic priorities, aims to support the National Assembly become more effective and efficient, transparent, and inclusive in line with regional and international benchmarks for democratic legislatures. In this regard, the project’s five outputs are as follows: a) Increased the capacity of National Assembly to effectively scrutinise legislation and its implementation and to monitor government performance in a participatory manner; b) More effective parliamentary scrutiny of government budget and expenditure, including monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); c) Enhanced the capacity of the National Assembly to engage citizens and represent their interests in the work of the parliament d) National Assembly more effective engagement in strategic leadership, transparency and external engagement and e) Gender is mainstreamed in all functions of the National Assembly ACTIVITY HIGHLIGHTS Role and Effectiveness of Parliamentary Committees in Monitoring Government Expenditure, September 2017, Dodoma This two-day workshop targeted MPs and staff from the Budget Committee, Local Authorities Accounts Committee (LAAC), Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Public Investments Committee (PIC) and was aimed at reflecting on the normative role of these committees in monitoring government expenditure, the required skills and competencies of MPs and staff, enabling participants to share experiences on current trends and discuss challenges, capacity constraints and possible reforms. The workshop covered the following key topics: • The role, functions and effectiveness of the National Assembly and its committees in monitoring Government expenditure and revenues by Dr. Wilhelm Ngasamiaku, University of Dar-es-Salaam. • Parliamentary control over Government expenditures: How to make it more effective by Mr. Deogratias Kirama – Chief External Auditor, National Audit Office of Tanzania (NAOT). • Legal and institutional framework supporting the Parliament in monitoring Government expenditures by Dr. Jamal Adam Katundu, Institute of Finance Management. • Implementation of budgetary reforms in Tanzania by Dr. Charles Mwamwaja – Assistant Commissioner, Ministry of Finance and Planning. Participants’ Contributions and Recommendations Arising from the interactive discussions, the following were noted: • Considering that the life span of membership to parliamentary committees which is half of the life of each parliament (2.5 years), it was noted that committees tend to lose the unique skills and experiences gained – especially in budget and finance-related committees – tend to be lost as MPs move to other committees. It was noted that the rotation of MPs happens at a time when even new MPs will have mastered the intricacies of the budget process and their role in revenue and expenditure tracking. For the project, the rotation could mean going back to basics in the delivery of training and knowledge sharing. This tends to slow down the momentum of parliamentary committees’ effectiveness in in overseeing and monitoring government expenditures. 3 • While the Constitution of United Republic of Tanzania requires MPs to be literate in the sense that, they should know how to read and write, the question arose as to whether this minimum requirement on literacy was sufficient for MPs to master the concepts and workings of Government as well as effectively undertake their accountability duties. Participants were of the view that this should be reviewed. • Participants recommended that national budget ceilings should be released in December every year before the submission of the local government’s budgets to Treasury. • In view of the volume of work facing watchdog committees, participants recommended the establishment of sub-committees for in-depth analysis of audit reports, including access to external experts who would analyze the reports and identify areas of interest. Based on experiences from other jurisdictions, participants observed the need to empower parliamentary committee to ask for alternative audit reports. This would require a review of the relevant parliamentary standing orders. • With regards to poor execution of the development budget, which is consistently below fifty percent, participants advised that the Government should formulate realistic and attainable budgets. It was agreed that on its part, Parliament should continue working towards a strong and independent PBO that has mandate to prepare alternative budget proposals (to those of the Executive) would also ensure that the country’s budget is realistic and attainable. Key Immediate Results From the proceedings, the following could be highlighted as emerging results from this activity: • Increased awareness among MPs of the various ways through which embezzlement and fraud takes place, with land-related investment projects implemented by parastatals and public enterprises requiring special attention. In this regard, MPs were familiarized with the best approaches to auditing investment projects. For example, using capital gain tax paid to Tanzania Revenue Authority to determine the actual price paid for the land. • Improved understanding of existing legal and institutional frameworks for effective monitoring of government expenditures, their limitations, and potential areas for reform, and the role of MPs in this regard. • Increased knowledge of the public finance