Timely implementation of planned activities and action plans critical for accelerated reform

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BY SOLOMON DIBABA

The Ethiopian fiscal year will soon end and a new budget year is on the horizon. Over the current years government ministries, commissions, agencies and enterprises have been conducting various activities over the year. Moreover, the organizations have been conducting various meetings in the form of quarterly and bi-annual evaluations, assessments and surveys on their activities. These organizations have conducted hundreds of meetings in which they have passed resolutions and in some cases have charted out some action plans. How many of these resolutions have been accomplished? How many of them were just shelfed? Who is accountable for failures to accomplish the planned activities and resolutions passed?

Public institutions have not been short of commitment plans that are prepared with a combination of flowery words and technical jargons. Here it is important to note that planning and passing operational resolutions are vital for smooth accomplishments of activities entrusted to government institutions through their legal and technical obligations. A couple of years back, the government has passed a directive that all public service delivery institutions need to conduct their meetings outside of business hours. Except for the regular meetings of the Council of Ministers that have been conducted during the weekends many of the meetings held at various public organizations are conducted during working hours that are allotted to deliver services to the public. This has always been a cause of concern among those who seek quality and efficient services.

Most of the deliberations of meetings that are followed by resolutions are recorded in proceedings that also include commitment plans, rectification on weak performances and correctional measures to be taken through evaluations. In many cases evaluation meetings in public institutions are shrouded with accusations and counteraccusations that go on with no meaningful results.

It must be noted that passing practical resolutions on performances entails accountability in terms of time, resource utilization and quality of the desired outputs. Many organizations across the country are not short of directives, plan and performance evaluation documents which are in many cases ignore.

The main types of resolutions and statements released after meetings or workshops are of two types. They include operational working resolutions and resolutions passed by political parties and related organizations as well as CSOs in which they express their positions on major national issues and events

Recently, the office of the Auditor General as issued a federal and regional level audit report with rather alarming results regarding financial and performance audit status of quite a few public institutions including institutes of higher learning and universities. Although these institutions tactility agree and accept the recommendations of the Auditor General, they rarely take time to correct some of the shortfalls and audit findings issued. They of course pass resolutions to adhere to the national financial and fiscal regulations that are issued by the government but fail to follow up on their implementation.

When it comes to the implementation of planned activities and resolutions, ministries, commissions, agencies and enterprises grapple with a number of challenges that they find it hard to effectively ratify.

In many cases, planned activities set by these government institutions suffer from lack of implementation capacities that are mostly related to the quality of performance demonstrated by the staff in each institution. On the other hand setting goals and plans that are far beyond the capacity of the organizations could lead to lower performance of planned activities and resolutions.

Although planned activities are set well ahead of the end of the fiscal year, the budget approved for these activities are in many cases not released by the Ministry of Finance on time. This seriously affects the speed and quality of implementation of activities set for each quarter. When the budget is released, the time need for implementation has partially relapsed.

Commitments that are mostly expressed through meetings are not implemented on time showing lack of a deeper commitment by the implementing management body and staff members. Many reasons could be mentioned for the prevalence of lack of commitment but in general poor managerial skills, lack of proper follow up and appropriate mode of remuneration can be mentioned.

Although government institutions have their own monitoring evaluations plans and systems, there is still a considerable laxity in putting in place a strong and applicable monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.

Marked disparity between individual responsibilities and obligations of operational teams inhibits timely implementation of planned activities and operational responsibilities in both cases.

Lack of accountability on the implementation of planned activities and commitment plans that are issued after meetings and conferences is another challenge that is clearly visible in many public institutions and enterprises. Here accountability implies legal and professional-technical accountability. We do not see ministries and commissions and their leaders being challenged and punished for unreasonable underperformance of planned activities and operational statements released over the years.

Failure to implement operational resolutions and planned activities implies loss of time and resources that are meant to be utilized on time and the necessary quality. Nonchalance to implement resolutions and planned activities is corruption on business time and resources and will cut down on the pace of development of the country.

One needs to keep in mind that delays and unjustified abandonment of important projects related to the development of the commanding heights of the national economy harms both the development of infrastructure facilities and laxity in the delivery of services needed by the citizens.

Important road projects, irrigation schemes, water development structures are mostly delayed due to lack of follow up and irresponsibility by the coordinators of such projects. Besides, in many government institutions, important institutional development related resolutions remain forgotten or transferred to the next fiscal year with no level of accountability for under performance.

It must be noted that the government is earmarking annual budget for all public institutions in the hope that they would accomplish their duties by minimizing costs and expanding accomplishments throughout the fiscal year. Ethiopia prepares a budget package based on domestic revenue and from support by foreign partners.

As stated above, the link between individual operational responsibility and accountability should be clearly stated and monitored to maximize the level of operational performance.

Inability to ascertain work ethics and discipline and carelessness in following up on performances in various government offices remain unpunished and at times tolerated to no end.

What measures should be taken in ensuring that planned activities and resolutions are accomplished on time? What should government offices, CSO and professional associations do to ensure that resolutions and planned activities are accomplished on time and with the necessary quality?

In the first place, performance evaluations both at the level of civil servants and in operational teams must be done in the context of enforcing accountability at all levels. This is an important tool for placing a reward system for encouraging high preforming staff and giving warning notices for sluggish staff and under performers.

Resolutions and commitment plans prepared by concerned institutions are to be accomplished through time bound commitment plans that are measurable, applicable and that can add value to the general performance of the organizations under consideration. Such accomplishments should not be conducted in a spontaneous manner or emotionally charged desires for over accomplishment.

It is important to prepare a catalogue of resolutions passed by each government organization along with the time frame, mode of implementation and expected outcomes. This must be clearly communicated to each member of the organization. Orientation and awareness creation sessions could be used to facilitate for better performance. Both the enumeration of resolutions and planned activities need to be conducted in transparent and participatory manner.

Political resolutions frequently issued by the political parties constitute position statements and standpoints that the parties cherish on various political issues in the country. Passing political resolutions has now become the mainstay of both opposition and the ruling parties.

Compared to other parties in the country, terrorist TPLF is well versed in using multiple statements and resolution for misinformation and propaganda it disseminates on its media outlets.

In terms of implementing resolutions and action plans, it is to be stressed that public institutions are accountable for all the actions they take in planning and implementing resolution that they pass. They are legally accountable for implementing their plans and resolutions because they are accomplishing their duties by expending public fund that is obtained from the task payers. This is particularly important in the implementation of multiple reform programs that are to be accomplished on time.

As stated in the beginning of this contribution, all important components of the political system in Ethiopia are supposed to verify between their accomplishments and possible shortfalls and take corrective measures to effectively and honestly rectify their mistakes and use them as learning outcomes that they can use in the upcoming fiscal year.

This year, the HPR has done a commendable activity in listening to various performance reports by ministries, commissions, agencies and enterprises at the federal level. The HPR is duty bound to follow up on the implementations of the recommendations forwarded by the MPs.

Ministries and commissions that report to the HPR need to abide with the recommendations from the HPR as the highest organ of political and legislative power inn the country.

Unless public institutions and various sectors of the national economy focus on quality delivery of services and production of commodities that produced in this country on time, it would be difficult to speed up the national reform program that is geared towards finding domestic solution to the hallmarks of poverty and destitution rampant in the country. In this regard, timely implementation of planned activities and executive resolutions are critically important.

Editor’s Note: The views entertained in this article do not necessarily reflect the stance of The Ethiopian Herald

THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD FRIDAY 1 JULY 2022

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