Why accountability is important

ACCOUNTABILITY in the workplace is something every manager wants to have.
Accountability has a clear link to higher work performance, but experts indicate that it also results in improved competency and commitment to work, increased employee morale, and work satisfaction.
And that is the challenge to all Members to Parliament to get into the habit of acquitting for public funds.
The Government has disbursed a huge amount of money for the first time to the provinces and districts.
Unfortunately, there is inadequate capacity at the district level to manage these large amounts of public funds allocated to the districts.
And that is the biggest problem on the ground – building the capacity of the districts to implement the public funds allocated to them successfully.
At the end of the day, it was important that all the funds allocated were properly acquitted.
Under the District Development Authority structure, that responsibility belongs to the district administration to provide those acquittals as it is not the responsibility of the MPs.
The MPs are not responsible for compiling reports; these are the responsibilities of district administration.
They keep the paperwork and make decisions and when they do not have them compiled, then it reflects badly on the leaders.
And that is why district and provincial treasury staff must perform their responsibility as committed and honest public servants.
They must know their role and not mix it with politics.
Hence it is important to hire public servants who are educated to a level where they are competent.
The reports were important as it will enable the department to check whether the public money is spent on the right areas as provided for under the guidelines.
It is important to tell the government how the money is spent and a lot of our people need to get into the habit of auditing funds, particularly public funds.
Public servants need to take ownership and lead in service delivery and the District Development Authority is the best possible opportunity to build our villagers and deliver services.
Acquitting a grant means accurately reporting on the funded activities and the expenditure of funding.
Grant reports – providing artistic and financial information – are required on the completion of your project.
Acquittal is a formal condition of funding.
A government has accountability for decisions and laws affecting its citizens; an individual has accountability for acts and behaviours.
On top of that, the Department of Implementation and Rural Development (DIRD) must be adequately funded so it can perform one of its key roles, that of inspecting and monitoring projects in districts.
This department has a very important role to play in supporting the Government deliver improved services to every province, district and local level government throughout the country.
It administers the service improvement programme (SIP), which includes the monitoring and inspection of projects, evaluating of acquittals and reports.
The department should be fully funded by the government to inspect and monitor SIP projects in the country so the funds are spent on what they are intended for.