Inefficiency in public offices is one of the major reasons of low growth in the economy. Such factor can be tackled through effective and efficient government policies which can give a boost to the economy. Government should play its role of providing good governance and transparent service to its citizens. In this way, people can enjoy the benefits provided by the policy without affecting the budget in any way. The government should take its responsibility of providing effective and transparent service to its people in order to make them feel that they are getting something in return.
However, majority of citizens are unaware about the role of government in providing services for the welfare of their community and the country as a whole. They tend to ignore the fact that the government has the duty of taking care of the citizen welfare by making better use of their resources and enhancing the efficiency of public life. This article highlights certain noteworthy issues in the application of the concept of ‘accountability’ in the public sector. The main issue is about the application of the concept of accountability to government.
Accountability – The concept of accountability refers to the obligation of an individual or a group of individuals to another individual or a group of individuals that bind them to maintain certain information held by them. Generally, one may define the term as the obligation of an individual to keep certain information or document that may affect his own privacy. In government organizations, the concept of accountability aims at improving the efficiency of the administration as well as the transparency of public authority. A citizen who is benefited by the service of a public authority can claim the right to hold the information that he may have.
The concept of accountability helps people to be more conscious about the actions taken by public authority. It is important to know what the decision is made by your elected representative in accordance to the decisions made by the accountable body. Accountability also includes the duty of an individual to take an action to bring about the visibility and the availability of information about a particular public body. These are the basic concepts that are involved in accountability. In other words, the concept of accountability helps citizens to be more aware and active about certain issues that may affect their lives.
The importance of accountability and transparency cannot be stressed enough. Both these concepts are required to maintain the harmony in the society. A country without either of these will suffer from the inability to preserve its social values and traditions. There are many other benefits of being accountable and transparent. Transparency in the country will also help bring down the tax burden on citizens. With such a system there will be no room for corruption or any dirty dealing among public authorities.
Economic growth – If a country operates efficiently it means that it is able to maximize the productive capacities of its citizenry in terms of production and innovation. This productivity will be channeled towards the creation of good governance policies and the betterment of the economy. With the best performing economy; there will be greater incentives for the individuals to create jobs and businesses. These businesses will in turn create more jobs for the people in the community as well as attracting new businesses and investment towards the country.
The freedom to choose – The right of every individual to choose his/her profession and the level of education they want is a fundamental right of the society. The accountability of public authorities to their citizens should be effective to enable them to exercise their choice. Accountability also means ensuring that the public servants to respect the decisions they take while performing their duties. Any deviation from the rules and regulations should be investigated. Inefficiency in public administration should be corrected through protests and complaints by the people affected.
The accountability and transparency system will also help bring transparency in the public procurement process. For instance, a procurement process for a particular project may have been done with due diligence by the public procurement service. However, there might be some items which are not required, which would need to be added at the end of the project. This will in turn increase costs for the government and bring transparency in public spending and procurement practices.