Over the past few months I have been in conversation with Jeanette Calder, the executive director of the Jamaica Accountability Meter Portal (JAMP) and who are interested in promoting citizen engagement and accountability within the Jamaican government.
I hold a similar position at the Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM) which is a South African based organization established in 1999 that promotes accountability in the affairs of government, with a primary focus on southern Africa. We would like to encourage Jamaica to support this new initiative, as we share some of our experience, especially where we have used evidence and findings of the supreme audit institution (SAI) responsible for undertaking independent audits of government.
Between 1999 and 2004 the PSAM tracked 691 allegations of corruption within South African government agencies. Only 72 of the 691 cases (roughly 10%) were finalised with a finding of guilt or innocence or a decision not to proceed due to insufficient evidence. The total amount of money involved for all 691 cases was R6.9 billion. Of this amount, only R325 million (or 5%) was recovered and/or properly accounted for. These indicators and the PSAM’s growing use of the findings and recommendations made by the Auditor-General of South Africa prompted a revision to the approach the PSAM had used to promote more open and accountable government. 1
The PSAM realized that in order to more meaningfully address service delivery challenges, maladministration and corruption within government, we had to focus on strengthening the public resource management system, in ways that would make it more socially accountable and responsive to the needs of the public. We needed to better understand and address the underlying causes that allowed corruption to occur and to advocate for systemic improvements to governance systems. By paying attention to and using SAI analysis, findings and recommendations, we have found that we can better solve governance challenges and strengthen citizen engagement so that governments are more
