“THE ROLE OF PARLIAMENTS IN STRENGTHENING ACCOUNTABILITY DURING A PANDEMIC: THE CASE OF COVID-19”

Introduction

 The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented disruptions in all facets of life across sectors in the world with countries battling to put in place measures to ensure public health and safety and minimise the impact on the economy. Lockdowns, curfews, movement restriction measures, restrictions on cross-border movements and closures of markets and mines became the order of the day across the globe. Parliaments have not been spared either as they too have had to deal with numerous challenges relating to the execution of their mandates. The advent of COVID-19 has also led to further reflections on the existence of our institutions and compelled the world to re-engineer its thinking around innovative work processes, revamped priorities and a remodelled world economy. All institutions at the helm of the State, including Parliament, are expected to grow and evolve by developing adaptive solutions to safeguard their operations, and at the same time provide the citizenry with the additional support that is necessary to counteract COVID-19 related repercussions. The need for Parliaments in the SADC region to urgently find collective solutions has made it imperative for the forthcoming 47th Plenary Assembly Virtual Session’s theme to be specifically on “THE ROLE OF PARLIAMENTS IN STRENGTHENING ACCOUNTABILITY DURING A PANDEMIC: THE CASE OF COVID-19”.

Challenges Faced by Parliaments in ensuring coordinated national COVID-19 responses

In the SADC region, the pandemic has taken a devastating toll on lives and livelihoods as it has precipitated the implementation of various forms of lockdowns, including state of emergencies by most Governments across the region. These responsive measures have been deemed necessary to contain the spread of COVID-19 and ensure that there is a minimum contamination chain. 

Parliaments were suddenly faced with multiple challenges, including the need to pursue meetings under their current seating arrangements which did not take into consideration social distancing, and the need to mitigate the chain of contamination among Parliamentarians who are elected representatives of the citizenry. Beyond the barriers which posed themselves to physical parliamentary meetings, there were raised expectations for Government action to support the economy, prevent joblessness, and procure the essential goods and services needed to fight against the pandemic. Parliament as an institution did not only have to meet for ordinary House business, but had to process new and innovative policy and legal frameworks which made living despite COVID-19 possible for the population. This adaptation process was progressive, with some Parliaments reacting more spontaneously than others, and health financing for COVID-19 being the prime subject of parliamentary discussions. 

In addition to the above, most parliaments have been tackling the following fundamental issues: 

1.  How to ensure effective and coordinated responses to COVID-19 by Government ministries and agencies in a transparent and accountable manner;
2.  How to ensure effective oversight on the implementation of emergency regulations and balance the need for urgency with good governance and prudential financial planning;
3. How to embrace innovation to overcome physical distancing requirements and use ICT technology to sustain parliamentary effectiveness during COVID-19 pandemic; and 
4.  How to ensure inter-parliamentary collaboration for experience sharing and benchmarking.

Above everything else, Parliaments need to ensure that there is a robust coordinated response to COVID-19 by all the stakeholders, including between and among the arms of state. The importance of a coordinated approach to COVID-19 has been aptly captured by the Parliament of Zimbabwe which observed that: “…there is no competition for space between the three Arms of the State and the principles of good governance require that each Arm of the State undertakes its role without impinging on the other Arms of the State. This outbreak requires that there is co-ordination between the three Arms of the State in the interest of public health…”

The Role of SADC PF in Fostering a Coordinated Regional Response by Parliaments 

On its part, SADC-PF took has been taking various decisive steps to ensure a coordinated regional response by Parliaments in SADC, guided by one of its Strategic Objectives which is “To facilitate capacity development and other programs of support for Members and staff of Parliaments to augment skills, knowledge and competencies to face emerging challenges.”2 These steps include consultations with regional and international inter-parliamentary bodies such at the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Pan African Parliament, ECOWAS Parliament, East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) and European Parliament. The Forum also been convening a series of dialogue between Speakers of national Parliaments and young people with a view to exploring how parliaments can promote access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and services by young people during the COVID-19 crisis. To date, such dialogues have been convened with the Parliaments of Seychelles, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Malawi, South Africa and Botswana and more will be organised during the course of the year. The most recent one coincided with the International Youth Day for 2020 on 12th August 2020 and featured the Speakers of the Parliaments of Botswana and South Africa. The various Standing Committees that met between 6th and 10th July 2020 also focused on the impact of COVID-19 in their respective sectors and made comprehensive and very pointed recommendations on what Parliaments could do to ameliorate the situation, especially among women and girls who are the most vulnerable groups. 

To ensure a systematic and coordinated response by national Parliaments to COVID-19, the Forum has developed and circulated to all Member Parliaments on 25th March 2020, the SADC PF Guidelines for SADC National Parliaments to Address the COVID-19 Outbreak. In the Guidelines, SADC-PF, inter alia called on “…national Parliaments to continue to play a leading role in consolidating legal and policy frameworks that can assist to mitigate the outbreak in both the short and long term.” In addition, SADC-PF recommended that the responses by each national Parliament to COVID-19 “should be evidence-based, proportionate to the urgency of the situation, and in conformity with human rights applicable.” 

 Sharing Experiences and Lessons learned for Benchmarking

In the aftermath of the issuance of the above Guidelines by the SADC-PF, Member Parliaments have had varied and very rich experiences of dealing with different dimensions of the role of Parliament during a pandemic. It is, therefore, critical that Member Parliaments get the opportunity to share these experiences for purposes of learning and benchmarking. Accordingly, the 47th Plenary Assembly Extraordinary Policy Session will examine the role of Parliament during a pandemic such as COVID-19. This will be done through an address to the Plenary Assembly by the World Health Organisation in line

 with Rule 44(5) of the Rules of Procedure. The address will specifically focus on what Parliaments can do to ensure robust and coordinated national and regional responses. Furthermore, Speakers of Parliament and Heads of Delegation will deliver a statement sharing their respective Parliament’s experiences and lessons on how to strengthen accountability during a pandemic in line with Rule 45 of the Rules of Procedure.

The ultimate goal is to make sure that parliaments in the SADC region remain effective in the execution of their constitutionally mandated duties to oversee government programme, make laws for the order and good government of their countries and effectively represent their citizens. As outlined in the SADC PF Guidelines for SADC National Parliaments to Address the COVID- 19 Outbreak and in line with public health principles contained in Model Laws adopted by the Forum, parliaments have a critical role to play in ensuring effective and coordinated national and regional responses to COVID-19.

he following principles which are enumerated in the Guidelines should inspire national Parliaments’ as they play a leadership role in ensuring accountability in COVID-19 responses in the SADC region:

1. The objective to attain Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and fulfil Sustainable Development Goal 3 relating to health and well being for all, should remain overarching guiding principles to inform policy and legislative responses across SADC; 
2.  Whilst priority should be given to mobilise resources to address the COVID-19 outbreak, access to other equally essential health care services should not be mitigated, e.g. Sexual and Reproductive Health services, essential surgical interventions, treatments for chronic illnesses, screenings for cervical cancer, provision of ARVs for treatment of HIV/AIDS etc. Redeployment of medical staff to fight the COVID-19 pandemic should also ensure that there are no lapses in delivery of essential health care services;
3. A national monitoring surveillance team should be set up which includes parliamentarians to monitor the daily COVID-19 situation;
4. The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on the treatment of other illnesses should be assessed scientifically in view of preventing a collapse of public health systems;
5. In consultation with central banks, banking charges and levies should be removed to facilitate withdrawal of cash at the nearest ATMs, and promote cashless banking systems which avoid handling of cash by the public;
6. Parliaments may consider adopting targeted legislation for the creation of special funds to assist most vulnerable communities and key populations, and to establish confinement/curfew conditions which are human rights-friendly and proportionate to the urgency of the situation;
7. Favourable trade agreements should be negotiated with partner countries to ensure that there is continuity in the availability of staple food supplies and commodities;
8. Intellectual property frameworks should be reviewed such that essential medicines, drugs and vaccines to combat COVID-19 are available to the public readily at affordable prices or with subsidies from the State;
9. A special COVID-19 tax regime may be instilled for a determined period to encourage enterprises and individuals to address the economic crisis, for instance by removing VAT on certain products, giving rebates, reducing income tax for certain economic sectors in difficulty etc;
10. Policy frameworks should be re-engineered through the budget to reinforce the public health system and ensure that it can be sustained in the long term to address the pandemic; and
11. The long-term financial, industrial, social and environmental impact of the pandemic should be assessed for each country and cooperation established between SADC countries in view of supporting one another and opening new food and medical supply lines where necessary.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, Parliaments must share strategies on how to protect the integrity of the institution of Parliaments during times of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Since Parliament is the most representative organ in any democracy, it has the onerous responsibility of making sure that accountability remains a cardinal value in public policy implementation even during a pandemic. As the former Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Democratisation, Governance and Human Rights, Hon. Wavel Ramkalawan aptly observed during his official opening speech on 7th July 2020, on the occasion of the Committee’s meeting: “Whatever mode of lockdown our individual countries are implementing, Parliaments must ensure that democracy is not locked down.” In the same vein, the Forum intends to implement fully its Strategic Plan (2019-2023) despite COVID-19 and continue to be the flag-bearer of democratisation and the proponent of democratic values in collaboration with its Member Parliaments. **