SADC to focus on accountability
SADC to focus on accountability

SADC to focus on accountability

The SADC Parliamentary Forum has urged its member states and parliamentarians to focus on the needs and the plight of citizens, and on being accountable.
Staff Reporter
The chairperson of the Standing Committee on Human and Social Development and Special Programmes at the SADC Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF), Muzoor Shaik-Emam, has urged different Standing Committees to identify common challenges they can tackle collaboratively as opposed to working in isolation.

The South African lawmaker made the call when he officially opened a two-day session of the Standing Committees on Human and Social Development and Special Programmes and Democratisation, Governance and Human Rights, which was held in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The joint sitting was convened to equip participants with basic knowledge and skills on the social accountability cycle, as a rights-based approach and also to re-orient participants on the role of governance in attaining Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Social accountability is an emerging approach to development, which encourages the strengthening of citizens' capacity to hold the state and service providers accountable to public resources and to make them responsive to their needs.

Shaik-Emam challenged the parliamentarians to make a positive difference in the lives of their citizens. He said that could be achieved through advancing the social accountability agenda in SADC, and bringing states to account for their obligations and commitments in the health sector.

“The ultimate responsibility for social accountability lies with government actors who must design and implement programmes in a manner which is accountable and responsive to the needs of people, provide oversight through a legislature, and if necessary enforce corrective measures,” he said.

He said the SADC region faces significant development challenges in health and that SADC member states had committed to meeting international, continental and sub-regional policy goals to undertake actions at national level to address these issues.

He urged MPs to uphold integrity, equity and transparency as they work towards making a difference in people's lives.

Integrity, he explained, implied that the decisions MPs take for their respective citizens were good, solid and well-intended for the good of the majority while equity implied that MPs did not treat all SADC residents the same, but rather lifted up those who needed a little extra lifting.

According to Shaik-Emam, those who need extra lifting include the ultra-poor who have no handles for economic upliftment and continue to be left behind; co-citizens who live with physical or intellectual disabilities or both; brothers and sisters who face serious health challenges whether or not in or out of their control; SADC women who by the mere fact of being “female” endure domestic violence, are impregnated and become infected with HIV not by choice; disillusioned SADC residents who tried and failed and tried multiple times more without success to end resultant poverty and disempowerment; and co-Africans who are politically not free and may not express their thoughts and ambitions for the future yet have good, solid honest implementable ideas to improve their own lives and the lives of others in the community.

He called, also, for transparency which implies that SADC member states follow due process through following competitive procurement procedures to get best value of money when they buy goods and services.

He said through their core oversight function, parliamentarians have an obligation to see that government policies and actions are effective to mitigate to the various challenges faced by citizens. Parliamentarians, Shaik-Emam said, have a critical assignment to mobilise their communities so that they have the knowledge and ability to engage with public resource management processes.

“The region faces significant development challenges in health. We have no choice but to work together to make a difference on the ground, where we want to make a difference,” he said in his call for greater collaboration among parliamentarians and also with stakeholders to avoid working in isolation while addressing similar challenges.

“As the SADC PF, we are mandated to provide effective parliamentary oversight mechanisms in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals to respond to common challenges in our region.”

He said commitments made by SADC member states through international, continental and sub-regional instruments on health, could be used as basis to measure their actions to address issues affecting the citizens.

Some of these commitments include the 1999 SADC Protocol on Health, the SADC Sexual and Reproductive Health Business Plan (2011-2015), the Maseru Declaration on the Fight against HIV/AIDS in the SADC Region (2003) and the Sustainable Development Goals.

For sustainable development to be attained in the region and for these regional and international commitments to be met, parliamentarians were encouraged to work hand in hand with the states to ensure equal access to opportunities by all SADC residents and to take special cognisance of marginalised groups.

Maneesh Gobin, who is the chairperson of the Democratisation, Governance and Human Rights Standing Committee, co-chaired the joint sitting.

He said given the huge amounts of public resources that are going into the health sector, especially for HIV programming, parliamentarians have an urgent role to play to ensure that there is transparency and accountability of how these resources are managed by their governments.

Staff Reporter

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Namibian Sun 2024-03-29

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Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 233.12/OZ UP +1.93% | Copper US$ 3.99/lb UP +0.12% | Zinc US$ 2 455.50/T UP 0% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 87.65/BBP UP +1.46% | Platinum US$ 908.62/OZ UP +1.53% Sport results: Weather: Katima Mulilo: 19° | 36° Rundu: 19° | 29° Eenhana: 19° | 29° Oshakati: 21° | 30° Ruacana: 20° | 33° Tsumeb: 19° | 29° Otjiwarongo: 16° | 29° Omaruru: 19° | 32° Windhoek: 17° | 29° Gobabis: 17° | 30° Henties Bay: 16° | 20° Wind speed: 22km/h, Wind direction: S, Low tide: 11:22, High tide: 05:24, Low Tide: 23:26, High tide: 17:46 Swakopmund: 16° | 17° Wind speed: 24km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 11:20, High tide: 05:22, Low Tide: 23:24, High tide: 17:44 Walvis Bay: 16° | 22° Wind speed: 27km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 11:20, High tide: 05:21, Low Tide: 23:24, High tide: 17:43 Rehoboth: 19° | 30° Mariental: 23° | 34° Keetmanshoop: 24° | 35° Aranos: 22° | 33° Lüderitz: 15° | 28° Ariamsvlei: 24° | 35° Oranjemund: 14° | 25° Luanda: 27° | 28° Gaborone: 20° | 32° Lubumbashi: 17° | 26° Mbabane: 16° | 21° Maseru: 11° | 29° Antananarivo: 16° | 27° Lilongwe: 17° | 27° Maputo: 20° | 28° Windhoek: 17° | 29° Cape Town: 17° | 28° Durban: 20° | 24° Johannesburg: 16° | 24° Dar es Salaam: 26° | 32° Lusaka: 20° | 30° Harare: 16° | 29° Economic Indicators: Currency: GBP to NAD 23.79 | EUR to NAD 20.36 | CNY to NAD 2.61 | USD to NAD 18.87 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.33 | EGP to NAD 0.39 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.74 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.77 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.23 | USD to DZD 134.39 | USD to AOA 832.63 | USD to BWP 13.71 | USD to EGP 47.35 | USD to KES 130.98 | USD to NGN 1415.13 | USD to ZAR 18.87 | USD to ZMW 25.01 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 74536 Up +0.85% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1528.69 Up +0.84% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 12986.94 Up +0.04% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 27559.35 Down -2.36% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 233.12/OZ UP +1.93% | Copper US$ 3.99/lb UP +0.12% | Zinc US$ 2 455.50/T UP 0% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 87.65/BBP UP +1.46% | Platinum US$ 908.62/OZ UP +1.53%