“PUBLIC EXPENDITURE TRACKING (PET): A PATH TO TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY”
By Noel Chatepa
The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) Karonga diocese conducted a Public Expenditure Tracking sensitization session on 9th May 2024 at Kangindwa Primary School on how to improve transparency and accountability in the management of School Improvement Grants (SIG) and School Development Funds.
The session was attended by Group Village Head Mwandenga, Kangindwa Parent Teachers Association representatives, the School Management Committees, Public Expenditure Tracking committee members and CCJP officers. During the session, there was a review of the schools financing and procurement processes in the form of a Question and Answer session by CCJP officers in order to get a clear picture of the transparency and accountability measures that are in place.
During the session, it was discovered that the school has set financing and procurement procedures in place that promote accountability however there is a problem of access to information on the financing and procurement processes which affects transparency. It was also discovered that in the school of 1,643 students, only 780 students paid the required MK1,000 for School Development Fund which hinders development.
“The session we had today is very beneficial as it will assist us as a committee to be more transparent and accountable if we follow all that we have been taught and we will also teach our friends in the community on benefits of contributing to the School Development Fund and also how to track our incomes and expenditure” said Steven Simfukwe who is the School Management Committee Chairperson for Kangindwa.
CCJP officer Moses Mwakisalu acknowledged that there is a great improvement at Kangindwa but highlighted that there is a great challenge of late disbursement of the School Improvement Grant which affects the learning process at the school and encouraged the School Management Committee, Parents Teachers Association and the community to work together in-order to improve transparency and accountability.
A simmilar session was conducted at Uliwa with Wasambo Community Action Group and Wasambo Public Expenditure Tracking Committee Members on 8th May 2024. The Public Expenditure Tracking (PET) is an initiative under the Fighting Inequalities Project which CCJP Karonga Diocese is implementing with support from Norwegian Church Aid and DanChurch Aid Joint Country Programme.