Public Institutions: Between Voluntary Compliance and Mandatory Enforcement

· The recommendations of the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) in its 2020 annual report on "the work of the Anti-Corruption Commission" were not implemented at all.... Why?

- The State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) in Palestine issued the follow-up report on implementation of recommendations for the year 2020, and the report was published on 30-12-2021. Its number of pages reached 145 pages, and the number of follow-up reports on implementation of recommendations reached thirty-eight reports (38). The number of views for this report, as shown on the Bureau's page, reached 37 views as of 9-1-2022.!

- It is known that the SAACB, in this report, undertakes to follow up on the recommendations it issues. Its role does not stop at auditing the work of the entities subject to it and issuing periodic reports about them; rather, this role must extend to the stage of following up the recommendations and verifying their enforcement and compliance with their substance...

- Recommendations are binding by their nature, according to periodic standards, where recommendations under these standards are considered “a basis for holding the audited entity accountable by the Bureau.” The Bureau’s issuance of recommendations is its compliance with the standards issued by the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI), represented by many rules. This is despite the fact that the debate here that treats recommendations issued by the Bureau as (not being judicial rulings enforceable by law) does not negate the binding nature of those recommendations... especially in the absence of the Legislative Council!.

- Through its audit reports and recommendation reports, the SAACB seeks to activate the accountability system and to disseminate the concept of accountability as widely as possible by addressing the general public with reports that describe the state of management of the institutions subject to its oversight and the recommendations issued as a result of audit work, with the aim of improving the work of the entities subject to oversight, formal and informal, and strengthening confidence in the measures taken by implementing those recommendations...

- Chapter Three of the Bureau’s report was titled "Follow-up on Implementation of the Bureau’s Audit Report Recommendations," where the report explained the results of following up these recommendations in many sectors, such as the recommendations of the General Administration for Economic Audit, the General Audit of Governance ("Civil and Security"), the General Audit of Cultural and Social Services, the General Audit of Non-Governmental Organizations NGO’s, infrastructure, performance, and units of local governance, etc.

- I chose one of the follow-up reports on implementation of recommendations of the General Administration for Economic Audit, namely "the Bureau’s recommendations on the work of the Anti-Corruption Commission." The Bureau followed up on 11 recommendations, and it became clear that the Commission did not take any of these eleven recommendations contained in the final report, and therefore did not implement any of these recommendations... The rate of non-implementation of the Administration’s recommendations by the Anti-Corruption Commission was 100%.... We review some of these recommendations that the Commission did not implement:

· (Closing the accounts): The Bureau’s recommendation in this regard stated that the Commission should work to close the accounts at the end of the financial year, in accordance with the provisions of Law No. (7) of 1998 concerning organization of the general budget and financial affairs, and to return the accumulated cash surplus in the Commission’s accounts to the Ministry of Finance’s accounts, and that the Commission’s Budget Section should perform the assigned tasks and duties, ensuring the preparation of the budget in accordance with the bases and regulations applied in public institutions, and providing the Accountant General with a detailed statement of the Commission’s monthly expenditures..!

· Compliance with Cabinet decisions regarding foreign travel missions.. and specifically (rationalizing expenditure with respect to foreign travel missions).!

· Compliance with Cabinet decisions on expenditure for external training courses, where the recommendation called for (stopping disbursements for external training courses)..!

· (Expenditure under the allowances item)

· Staff regulations of the Commission: the recommendation stated: (the necessity for the Commission to comply with the provisions of the Commission’s Staff Regulations No. 7 of 2011) regarding payment of its employees’ salaries, re-calculation of the salaries paid to its employees and taking the necessary legal measures regarding amounts paid in excess without legal basis (and recovering them retroactively)...!

· (Regulation regarding appointments): the necessity for the Commission to prepare regulations or instructions regarding appointments to its permanent positions and to ratify them according to due procedures, to identify vacancies in the Commission’s annual budgets, and to announce vacant positions according to due procedures.. with emphasis on the necessity of matching the academic qualification with the nature of the vacant positions.. and compliance with Cabinet decisions regarding the suspension of contracting with employees retired from the public service, in a manner that ensures equal opportunities and adherence to the principles of integrity and transparency in the appointment process!.

· (The necessity of working to activate the internal audit unit in the Commission) to ensure that it carries out the tasks assigned to it in monitoring the Commission’s work and activities to limit errors.. and address them.!

· All eleven recommendations of the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) regarding the work of the Anti-Corruption Commission were ignored and none of them were implemented at all!

· We call for the mandatory implementation of the SAACB’s recommendations... and that there should not be an option of voluntary compliance.... for public-working institutions, formal and informal...!