Gaps in Local Authorities' Management of Their Jurisdictions in Palestine

-        The State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB), in its annual report published on 21-8-2021, issued (115) audit reports covering all sectors subject to the Bureau’s oversight, which number more than 4,000 entities... among them were (60) reports on the local governance sector, in which the number of bodies subject to the Bureau’s oversight is (571) local bodies.. the response rate in implementing these recommendations did not exceed 48% of the Bureau’s total recommendations for this sector (local governance), which amounted to 438 recommendations.!

-        The Bureau’s report considered the local bodies sector the largest among the entities subject to its audit, and the sector closest to the citizenry, since the local governance sector is one of the most important sectors at the state level, as it provides a large package of basic services that directly touch citizens’ needs, such as water, electricity, solid waste and sanitation, development projects, infrastructure and other services, which contribute to community development and building, and to achieving sustainable development..

-        Although improvements in the work of local bodies show a (higher) response than other sectors in improving the performance of the entities themselves, they show a (lower) improvement in the enforcement by bodies of their jurisdictions such as: building permitting, roads, management of water projects, central markets, education, waste, vehicle parking, etc., and these topics appeared within a set of reports issued by the Bureau that clarify the gaps in the management by bodies of their jurisdictions, and the recommendations issued by the Bureau on these topics. The Bureau’s recommendations follow-up report for 2020 showed that the response to the Bureau’s recommendations by local bodies was more flexible than the official sector such as: the economy sector or the governance sector (civil and security)..etc...!

-        The Bureau’s 2020 follow-up report continues, explaining that to reach the building of institutions that respond to needs and are able to advance in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, the role of the General Directorate of Oversight of Local Governance comes into play in auditing and examining the local governance sector, in order to realize the Bureau’s objectives and in line with its strategic plan “Making a difference in the citizen’s life”. Among the topics that were subject to the Bureau’s audits were service-oriented subjects, where recommendations were issued to help local bodies improve and develop the services provided to citizens, such as: solid waste management, the knowledge tax for establishing new schools and for assigning the Ministry of Education to improve, develop and maintain schools, electricity projects, and water projects to develop and improve networks, expand the scope of service, settle debts, vehicle parking, vegetable markets... to verify the extent to which they are performing their role and duties in managing and supervising those projects in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations, and to indicate shortcomings or deviations if any, and to put forward the necessary recommendations to correct course and reach improved services provided by those bodies...!

-        In this regard, we list some recommendations, where the General Authority conducted field visits to a number of local bodies to verify their commitment to implementing the recommendations contained in the audit reports, where (438) recommendations were followed up, contained in 15 audit reports among the Bureau’s reports on the subject of local bodies, which as we mentioned amounted to (60) audit reports.., and following up complaints, reports and requests received by the Bureau, which amounted to more than (76) complaints, and audit tasks were included to ensure that the financial position of local bodies fairly reflects revenues and expenditures, and to detect deviations..!

-        The recommendations follow-up report covered some local bodies (local councils and municipalities) numbering (9) local bodies in the water project, and the “vehicle parking project” numbering (6) local bodies... The report showed that there are municipalities and local councils that implemented only a few of the Bureau’s recommendations, and at low rates, which requires greater effort and deeper interaction from these bodies in implementing the Bureau’s recommendations... noting that the rate of compliance in implementing the Bureau’s recommendations across all local governance bodies (571 bodies) reached 48%, where 210 recommendations were complied with out of 438 recommendations - as noted above -

-        The Bureau’s follow-up on recommendations in the water project for some local bodies included topics such as: water tariff (setting and amendment), the mechanism for collecting previous water charges (receivables) owed by subscribers after being calculated and posted to subscribers, inactive subscriptions, consumptions (determining the type of domestic, commercial–industrial consumption of water sales), a legal guarantee for the accountant and collector, clearance of liabilities (“activating clearance of liabilities for applicants for water subscriptions”), a documentary cycle for warehouse items, scheduling the debts owed by the council to the West Bank Water Department, and commitment to pay the department’s monthly invoice, scheduling previous receivables through the prepaid program, making financial claims to subscribers to collect the amounts due from them and to limit the accumulation of receivables against them, rehabilitating main lines in water networks, and replacing meters, in addition to periodic maintenance and follow-up, developing the water network, the necessity of conducting periodic inventory of assets and warehouses by independent inventory committees, separating subscriptions, providing periodic laboratory tests for water, and resorting to Ministry of Health laboratories, awareness campaigns to reduce water consumption and lower loss rates, and recommendations on the necessity of depositing revenues daily, and amending access privileges to the electronic system used in local bodies...

-        These topics were the core of the recommendations for the selected sample of local bodies which numbered (15) bodies, and the response rate of most of these bodies to these recommendations was low as we noted. At the same time, there are other topics in the Bureau’s annual report for 2020 that were not addressed in this publication, due to the volume of the Bureau’s audit reports issued regarding the local governance sector which were (60) audit reports...and 76 complaints and reports..

·       Date 17-1-2022