ONCE again the parliamentary standing committees have expressed their dissatisfaction with the cooperation they are receiving from ministers and ministry officials when it comes to the committees attempting to fulfill their oversight role. In a meeting on Tuesday a number of the committee heads raised the same complaints that they have expressed since the standing committees came into effect.

The fact that the committee heads who are complaining so vociferously about indifference of the ministries they are charged with overseeing are also members of the ruling alliance gives their complaints added credence. This is no partisan debate between the government and the opposition with both sides content to hurl accusations at one another. If the cabinet does not take the grievances of its own MPs seriously, then, one can fairly ask, exactly whose grievances will it be inclined to address.

The last government introduced the practice of heading up the standing committees with non-ministers, which was a welcome innovation. The ministers have been petitioning the PM to restore to them the committee chairmanships, but we would urge the PM to stand firm, as standing committees headed by the minister of the ministry the committee is intended to exercise oversight on cannot be expected to fully probe all irregularities.

The role of the committees needs, in fact, to be strengthened. Presently, they serve only as advisory bodies and their recommendations are not binding and the committees have no role in their implementation. For the committees to effectively fulfill their oversight function, their role and power needs to be expanded.

But even under the current system, there is much room for improvement. Most of the problems stem from the noncooperation of the relevant ministries. Committee complaints include the fact that ministries withhold needed information and documentation, and that ministry officials and ministers often absent themselves from meetings, with the result that very little is accomplished.

This sort of foot-dragging on the part of the ministries must end. The ministries must be directed to comply and cooperate fully with the standing committees and to take their own role more seriously. Functional standing committees are indispensable to the accountability that is crucial to good governance, and it is the duty of the ministries to ensure that the committees are able to properly fulfill their role.