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Meeting
between LCN and PAC |
Lesotho Council NGOs (LCN)
had a meeting with Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the 7th April
2006 at a meeting held at Oxbow Lodge.
The objective of the meeting is to share our findings and initiate
dialogue that will facilitate partnership between government and
civil society on national development issues. Specifically, the
meeting aims to form the basis for joint discussions around
implementation of the poverty reduction strategy and how to ensure
that budget allocation and public expenditure are in line with the
national development priorities identified in the PRSP. This
initiative is part of the Civil Society Support Programme (CSSP), a
programme that is being spearheaded by the LCN, whose key objective
is to strengthen the capacity of NGO’s so that civil society is a
viable partner in development initiatives undertaken by the
government.
The meeting was attended by members of the public accounts committee
which is made up of twelve parliamentarians from different political
parties. It was a forum where LCN, NGOs and PAC, explained their
respective mandates and discussed ways in which, in partnership they
can monitor the impact of public expenditure on poverty reduction.
The key mandate of the PAC is to monitor how public funds are
utilised in terms of misappropriation, excess expenditure,
embezzlement, corruption etc. Though they appreciated the need for
closer monitoring of the relevance of public spending to national
priorities, their mandate is currently limited to reviewing audited
public accounts reports. They informed the meeting that part of the
current reforms in parliament include formation of a Budget
Committee whose mandate would be to undertake the task of monitoring
public expenditure against the PRS.
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