Nepal Administrative Staff CollegeGovernance and Development Management Learning Group

Center for Governance and State Management Professional Course on Governance and State Management

for Class II Officers of GON

Module II: Governance

Session on:

Public Accountability

Yuba Raj BhusalSenior Director, NASC

August 20, 2015

Presentation Outline

1. Background

2. The Concept

3. Types

4. Dimensions

5. Nepalese Context

6. Challenges and Opportunities

1. The State and its Organs

THE STATE

Legislature

Executive

Judiciary

Media

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2. The Concept 2.1 Public• Publics are groups of individuals, and

the public is the totality of such groupings.

• It means a population of individuals in association with civic affairs, or affairs of office or the state.

• It has notions of audience, market segment, community, constituency, and the stakeholders.

Types of Public:

• Target publics’ involvement is necessary for achieving organizational goals;

• Intervening publics form opinions and mediate, who also pass information to the target publics; and

• Influential publics are the publics that the target publics turn to for consultation and services.

2.2 Accountability• The concept of account-giving has ancient roots in

record keeping activities related to governance andmoney-lending systems that was first developed inancient Israel, Babylon, Egypt, Greece and later inRome.

• It is related to ethics and governance with severalmeanings such as answerability, blameworthiness,liability, and account-giving.

• As an aspect of (good) governance, it is related toproblems in the public, non-profit and private(corporate) worlds as well.

• Accountability may be moral, administrative,political, managerial, market, legal/judicial,constituency relation, professional etc.

2.3 Public Accountability• In public sector leadership, accountability is the

acknowledgment and assumption ofresponsibility for actions, products, decisions, andpolicies including the administration, governance,and implementation within the scope of the roleor employment position and encompassing theobligation to report, explain and be answerablefor the consequences.

• It involves the obligations of public enterprisesand agencies who have been entrusted withpublic resources to be answerable for fiscal andsocial responsibilities, to those who haveassigned such responsibilities to them.

• Accountability = f(answerability + responsibility).

• According to Mark Bovens, public accountabilityis the hallmark of modern democraticgovernance. It is one of the ingredients of goodgovernance.

• As an institution, it is the complement of publicmanagement. Now, public relates to “openness”,or the account giving is done in public, i.e., it isopen or at least accessible to citizens.

• Public means the public sector and thus focus ismade on public managers, on officials spendingpublic money, exercising public authority, ormanaging a corporate body under public law.

• It covers all the three organs of the state.

3. Types Public institutions are frequently required to account fortheir conduct to various forums in a variety of ways.Mark Boven has categorized it as under (The Oxford Handbookof Public Management, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2005):

4.1 Based on the nature of the forum• Political accountability• Legal accountability• Administrative accountability• Professional accountability• Social accountability

4.2 Based on the nature of the actor• Corporate accountability• Hierarchical accountability• Collective accountability• Individual accountability

4.3 Based on the nature of the conduct

• Financial accountability

• Procedural accountability

• Product accountability

4.4 Based on the nature of the obligation

• Vertical accountability

• Diagonal (crosswise) accountability

• Horizontal accountability

3. Types contd..

Horizontal accountability

Vertical accountability

4. Dimensions of Public Accountability:

4.1 An icon/image: an instrument and a goal,

4.2 An institutional arrangement: An occasional,self-instituted evaluation of an independentagency does not constitute an accountabilityarrangement. It is institutionalized.

4.3 It involves social relations: a relationshipbetween an actor and a forum, in which theactor has an obligation to explain and to justifyhis/her conduct, the forum can pose questionsand pass judgment, and the actor can besanctioned.

4. Dimensions contd…

4.4 The problem of many eyes (the actor-forum relationship). There are at least five forums to respond:

• Political accountability: elected officials, political parties, voters, media;

• Legal accountability: courts;

• Administrative: auditors, inspectors, controllers;

• Professional accountability: professional peers;

• Social accountability: interest groups, charities and other stakeholders.

4.5 The problem of many hands:

• Corporate accountability: the organisation as an actor ;

• Hierarchical accountability: One for all (Ministers, CEO);

• Collective accountability: All for one (in the case of organisational misconduct, every member of the organisation can be held accountable);

• Individual accountability: Each for him/herself.

4. Dimensions contd…

4.6 Aspects of Accountability:•financial, procedural, products etc;•vertical, diagonal and horizontal accountability;

4.7 Assessing accountability• Proper provision of information;

• Proper debate;

• Proper judgment procedure.

4.8 Evaluating the external effects of accountability:• The democratic perspective: popular sovereignty;

• The constitutional perspective: prevention of corruption and

abuse of power;

• The cybernetic perspective: enhancing the learning capacity

(useful as a check leading to prevention for not to repeat).

4. Dimensions contd…

4.9 Importance of public accountability:

• Direct: Democratic control, Checks and balances, and improvement/learning.

• Indirect: Legitimacy, Catharsis (emotional release).

4.10 Privatization and Public Accountability:

• Re-inventing government will eventually lead to a re-invention of public accountability relations for private bodies delivering public services, i.e., schools, hospitals, privatized Public Enterprises.

4. Dimensions contd…

5. Public Accountability in Nepal

The Instruments: Constitutional/Legal, Institutional and Procedural arrangements

• Constitution: Every citizen shall have the right to demand or receive information on any matter of his/her interest or of public interest (Art. 27 Right to information); Directive Policies of the State; Provision of separation of power and check and balance,

• General Law: New Civil Code 2020,

Some specific Laws:

a) Anti-money Laundering

Act 2070;

b) Good Governance Act

2064;

c) RTI Act 2064;

d) Public Procurement Act

2063;

e) Prevention of Corruption

Act 2059;

f) Political Parties Act,

2058;

g) Contract Act 2056;

h) Financial Procedures Act

2055;

i) Consumer Protection Act

2054;

j) Food Act 2052;

k) Civil Service Act 2049;

l) Press and Publication Act

2048;

m) CIAA Act 2048;

n) Audit Act 2048;

o) Wealth Tax Act 2048;

p) Other concerned laws.

5. Public Accountability in Nepal contd…

• Citizen charter,

• Provisions of public hearings and public audit,

• Complaint handling system (Offices, PMO including Women’s cases),

• Provision of Information Officer/Spokesperson,

• Contract agreements,

5. Public Accountability in Nepal contd…

• Client card (evaluation),

• Ombudsman (CIAA, NVC, CIB, DRI),

• Provisions of Income and Asset disclosure while joining public office and every year;

• Punitive actions (Departmental actions, court remedies through the Independent Judiciary),

• Ethics Training (positive thinking, appreciative inquiry).

5. Public Accountability in Nepal contd…

6. Challenges and Opportunities

6.1 Political Commitment

6.2 Administrative System

6.3 Society, Culture and Governance