Accountability in the Age of Results: a Post-War Context

Accountability, understood as an obligation to share information about the implementation of a project by a public institution, is at the forefront for many African countries. In a post-war country, like mine, Sierra Leone, it becomes even more crucial as it minimizes the likelihood for outbreak of or relapse into war.

Since 2002, Sierra Leone has received huge financial support from the donor community towards the post-war recovery process. These funds were used by the government to ensure the social stability we know today and create new opportunities. But how could citizens be aware of that if the government doesn’t mention where the public resources are allocated? How could they hold the government to account to them?

To respond to that concern, the government of Sierra Leone put immediate post-conflict efforts at promoting accountability. It embarked on various approaches to installing development accountability within the public service. Public financial management systems were strengthened through the introduction of a medium term expenditure framework and the establishment of an anti-corruption commission. Progress reports on the implementation of public programs are regularly published. The government also makes a point at creating a space for and supporting capacity building of civil society organizations and media to participate effectively in the national development process.

Better accountability by the Sierra Leone government is instrumental to empower citizens who are otherwise at risk of losing trust in the recovery effort. Hence, it ensures an increased ownership of the development process by the citizens who know what the government is doing and for whom.

I recently had the great opportunity to share my thoughts on domestic accountability at a Seminar on “Challenges in Donors’ Domestic Accountability”, organized in December 2009 by the French Development Agency (AFD) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). As a unique participant from Africa, I demonstrated the role of the AfCoP in promoting accountability throughout the continent. The community aims to promote development practices that lead to the maximization of outcomes within the available scarce resources; central to this aim is the increased use of tools to promote transparency and accountability among practitioners. An AfCoP’s Sierra Leone Chapter is being created. It will soon provide a national forum for debates, to better advance the need for results and greater accountability.

Accountability is a key component to driving Africa’s results agenda in the 21^st century, a century which will be the age of results and total development take-off for Africa. The continent is currently presented with an opportunity defined by a clarion call to African governments to deliver results; an opportunity brought about by mounting internal pressures from the weak, the grassroots, the civil society and private sector for a development transformation that will ensure the delivery of tangible results to the people.

Sheka Bangura, an AfCoP Core Management Team member, is the Head of the Monitoring and Evaluation Unit at the Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.