04.12.2019

22 MONTHS WITHOUT DISCUSSION ON AUDIT REPORTS IN FBIH PARLIAMENT - NO PARLIAMENTARY CONTROL OF PUBLIC EXPENDITURE

 Public sector audit is one of the most important control mechanisms ensuring proper and efficient public expenditure and management of public assets, because it is its overall activity that instils public trust, hence contributing to a more efficient governance of public finance.

We find ourselves in a situation where the Office for Audit of the Institutions of FBiH completed its obligations with respect to this matter; however, the 2018 and even 2017 audit reports have not been considered nor have hearings been organised with individuals from the institutions whose performance received adverse or qualified audit opinion because the audit committee has not been formed in the Parliament of the Federation of BiH. 

Auditor's homework is to observe and identify the problem and to submit reports to the parliamentary committee. This was done this year and last year. Yet, more than 60 reports of the institutions are pending for Parliament’s review.

The last session of the FBiH Parliament audit committee was in February 2018 (13 February 2018). This means that there has been no discussion on audit reports in the Parliament of FBiH for almost two years (22 months), or 659 days has passed since the Committee’s last session.

And there will be no discussion until a joint parliamentary audit committee is formed in the FBiH Parliament.

To provide and adopt recommendations and draw conclusions accordingly is an assumption and the first step in the chain of activities aimed at improving financial discipline and transparency in the work of the public sector institutions. However, no further activities are taking place due to failure to form competent parliamentary committees in the FBiH Parliament. What should happen, as is the case in countries with advanced parliamentary democracy, is that the question of public, political, disciplinary and moral accountability should be raised, and sanctions should be imposed for irresponsible conduct, oversights, shortcomings and violations of laws.

The FBiH Parliament is unacceptably late in performing one of its vital functions -- control of efficiency and legality of public spending -- expanding space for getting away with violations of laws and corruption within government institutions or within those that they control.

The situation is similar with regard to the state parliament, as submitting the proposals of the  candidates for members of the parliamentary committees opened the possibilities to finally form  in both houses the audit and budget committees, under whose jurisdiction is the work of the Audit Office, i.e., the review of audit reports and subsequent actions in line with assessments and recommendations provided.

But the two-year work of the Office for Audit remains without review. We are still waiting for the committees to begin to work. We are still waiting to see the Parliament's concrete response to audit findings and recommendations. And, the harm resulting from the absence of timely actions can hardly be compensated even with much higher work intensity. 

Audit cannot be an end in itself, and the overall benefit of the public sector audit must not be brought into question because of failure to form the committees. The lack of discussion in Parliament does not only postpone the review of the work of the institutions in which the audit detected issues, but it stultifies the sheer possibility of imposing sanctions in order to remove the identified problems.

THE CENTRES FOR CIVIC INITIATIVES regard this situation as unacceptable. And they call on all parliamentary political parties and elected representatives to speed up appointment of audit committee in the FBiH Parliament so that government can begin as soon as possible to perform its constitutional obligations – with control of public spending being one of them.

It is, therefore, necessary to stop at once all irresponsible behaviour on the part of politicians who must not only formally form the committees and schedule parliamentary sessions but rather engage in serious, intensive and efficient efforts to try to compensate for at least some part of enormous backlogs to lessen the harmful effects caused by their underperformance.

The Project “More Effective Public Audit for Less Corruption in Bosnia and Herzegovina” is implemented by the Centres for Civic Initiative with financial support of Sweden. The project aims to contribute to a more responsible expenditure of public funds to reduce corruption in the public institutions in BiH.