Author: vhonani

Parliament wrestles purse from Manuel
Mpumelelo Mkhabela | Published:Jun 29, 2008

The treasury and the presidency failed in their bid to convince parliament to drop the bill

Controversial bill sails through committee 
Trevor Manuel, the minister of finance, has lost the battle for control of parliament’s budget and its financial management. 
National assembly speaker Baleka Mbete and national council of provinces chairman Mninwa Mahlangu’s plan to insulate parliament from the treasury’s accounting rules got a thumbs-up when the legislature’s finance committee passed the contentious Financial Management of Parliament Bill this week.
The bill was adopted despite several warnings from the treasury that it could prompt other institutions, such as the judiciary and provincial legislatures, to demand exclusion from the Public Finance Management Act, the treasury-sponsored rule book on the use of taxpayers’ money.
Parliamentary sources say the bill, which the treasury and the presidency have stalled for five years, will pass with ease following the change of guard in Polokwane, where Mbete was elected national chairman of the ANC.
The Polokwane conference also resolved to give MPs more say over the national budget — another concession that Manuel has fought throughout his tenure.
Mbete has been arguing that, in line with the separation of powers, Parliament needs its own financial arrangements to prevent it accounting to Manuel and the treasury. 
The bill establishes a joint committee of the two houses of parliament to which the legislature’s presiding officers and its secretary, Zingile Dingani, would account. 
Dingani has on occasion refused to appear before parliament’s standing committee on public accounts to account for parliament’s expenditures.
The bill also gives the presiding officers powers to determine their own process for submitting parliament’s budget and adjustments to the treasury “after consultation” with the finance minister. 
In contrast with government departments the minister would, however, not be consulted by parliament if it decided to switch funds from one expenditure item to another. Parliament would also have the power to deal with self-generated revenues and would not have to surrender income to the treasury.
In its submission, the treasury argued:
• The constitution requires a single national revenue fund and an integrated treasury; 
• Separate legislation cannot sidestep the requirements for agreement between presiding officers and the minister of finance over budget allocation; 
• Funds to be appropriated for parliament must be agreed between parliament’s executive authority and the minister, but the bill required only that the finance minister should be “consulted”; 
• Determination of amounts to be appropriated for parliament will remain a potential source of conflict; and 
• The bill will effectively exclude parliament from wider provisions of the act such as borrowing, public-private partnerships, guarantees and public entity oversight. 
The treasury and the presidency failed in their behind-the-scenes bid to convince parliament to drop the bill so that Mbete’s concerns could be incorporated into the act, which is under review by the treasury.
High-level lobbying involving the presidency, the treasury and parliament led to the suspension of discussions on the bill at the finance committee last year. However, a document that emerged proposing incorporation of parliament’s concerns in existing legislation was shot down by Mbete and Mahlangu.
A few days after the treasury made its second submission at the end of May, Mbete and Mahlangu insisted during their budget vote speeches in parliament that the bill should be passed this year. 
The chairman of the finance committee, Nhlanhla Nene, said the committee had tried to allay the treasury’s fears by seeking legal opinion on the bill. The committee had removed earlier proposals that the presiding officers account to a committee of which they would be members.