What is the duty of the Parliamentary local government committee?

We examine issues raised by the Auditor Generals reports about the funds that are allocated to the districts. These funds should be spent according to the Governments treasury accounting instructions, the local government and accounting regulations 1998 and the Public Finance and Accountability Act 2003. When the Auditor General audits districts and finds that funds have been spent without following the procedures, he raises the queries, which are presented to us. We in turn call the accounting officers to defend themselves. Many chief administrative officers do not like to appear before this committee. What is the problem? Some CAOs cannot give convincing explanations. The CAOs also appear before the district public accounting committee and I think our level of probing is in-depth. Some of them come here thinking they have all the answers, but find themselves inadequate. However, those who have failed to follow the financial and accounting instructions are the ones who always fear ...  more