African Union Parliamentary scrutiny (Committee on Public Accounts) QUESTION 2: decentralized? To what extent is your country’s fiscal system (i) Describe (briefly) the legal provisions and policies establishing a system of decentralisation between national and sub-national authorities in your country. (ii) Assess the effectiveness of this system with respect to the following: Degree of consistency of policies and programmes initiated by local authorities with the development challenges of the particular geographical area, Capacity of local authorities to raise revenue from their constituencies (e.g. Tax collection, levies, fines, etc) Capacity of local authorities to manage fiscal resources, and plan and implement economic policies; Percentage of local expenditures met from resources mobilized locally (iii) List the key challenges encountered by your country in implementing an effective system of decentralisation. QUESTION 3. What are the main challenges your country faces in adopting and implementing a predictable medium-term fiscal framework and what are the measures to mitigate these challenges? How successful have these measures been? Describe the process by which public finances are managed, and by which multi-year budgeting is developed (for example through a medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF)) and any problems in formulating and implementing such a framework consistently. Describe the solutions implemented or proposed to overcome such challenges. Assess the effectiveness of implementation and the remaining gaps and shortcomings. If the country does not use a medium-term fiscal framework, what are the reasons for this and what measures are proposed to address obstacles? INDICATORS Relevant legislation and policy documentation on public finance management and fiscal management, and any assessments on the effectiveness of such legislation and documentation National and departmental budgets and medium-term expenditure frameworks Use of accepted (regional or international) accounting standards Internal audit (use of internal auditors in government departments and services) Auditor General Reports Timely publication of fiscal information Parliamentary scrutiny (Committee on Public Accounts) 34