Avoid Duplication For Resource Efficiency

This author had an opportunity to interact with provincial assembly members and policy makers  across the country in the east and the west recently where the tendencies to create parallel agencies and duplication of work was singled out as one of the major cause of resource wastage and inefficiency across the tiers of the government. Take, for example, the case of the health sector where public health offices and local government health units feud and flex their muscles over their mandates and functional domains that do allegedly overlap against each other. Practically, they fail to collaborate and implement respective actions to produce effective results in delivering health services at the local level. 

Similarly, in the education sector too, federal agencies poach into mandates of the local governments, giving rise to jurisdictional overlaps and conflicts. These duplications, conflicts and overlaps have not only hemorrhaged resources failing to produce any worthwhile results but also dulled the motivation of the government personnel. At a time when national economy is in crisis for want of expendable public revenue and resources, the government needs to implement   cost rationalisation measures, among others, to address the problems related with revenue shortfalls. To this end, the government should take steps and even go to the extent of pruning the size of the state structures from federal to the local level. 

Wasteful spending

Several apparatuses and agencies controlled and managed so far by the central (federal) government) have to be either disbanded if they are irrelevant or repurposed or transferred to the purview of the sub-national governments - provinces and local - for resource efficiency, effective operation and management. However, the constitutional arrangements premised upon the principle of subsidiarity have not been adequately upheld, addressed and implemented as   evidenced by the huge bureaucratic apparatus yet far retained at the federal level incurring huge expenses. Moreover, indiscriminate creation of the ad hoc bodies and agencies at different levels has imposed incriminate pressure on public expenditures. 

The government is predisposed to the creation of new agencies, new programmes, and new spending initiatives, as shared with this author in the field, instead of reorganising, or repurposing what is already available within the existing set up or institutional arrangements. As a result, there are several programmes, projects and activities operated and handled by the governments that have allegedly outlived their mission and objectives, duplicate efforts and resources, or operate below peak efficiencies. This wasteful spending has been a contributing factor to the deteriorating fiscal health and discipline in the country.

Hence, there is a need to reflect and review the patterns of the public expenditure in the country. In this context, it would be in order to outline some of the applicable standards on which broad action to maximise utilisation of tax payer money should be based and executed. In order to stop wasteful and unnecessary spending all government programmes should have a direct, clear, and immediate purpose. Likewise, all government spending should provide a necessary and essential public service, and serve a clearly defined need, demands and interest of the citizens which is not followed across the levels of the government. All public spending should fund their intended purpose and reach the targeted recipient.  In fact, there should not be any improper payments that result in monetary loss to the public exchequer. The government should be frugal and strive to avoid overpaying to finance materials, projects and activities. The government should spend only the amount necessary to achieve intended objectives and goals, and all expenditures should be assessed on theses bases. 

Using the above mentioned guidelines, public spending should be geared to restrain and refocus taxpayer resources. The government should eliminate all the duplicating and overlapping agencies, projects and programmes scattered across the governments. The programmes and projects that do not yield intended results and outcomes should be either avoided or repurposed and eliminated. All illegal, improper and irrational payments need to be revoked for proper utilisation of the public resources. Moreover, an effective oversight of public spending should be conducted to minimise and eliminate wasteful expenditures. 

The most important measure for eliminating wasteful expenditure is to stop hasty and unwise end -of-financial year spending. The  Public Expenditure Review Committees (PERCs) formed by  the government during the previous years  in  its report had made  recommendations not very long back to reduce overlap, duplication, and fragmentation in the programmes. The PERC reports identify opportunities for cost savings, and a better effective and efficient service delivery for the people by addressing several types of gross inefficiencies in government. 

Cutting wasteful expenditures

When more than one government agency, or more than one component within an agency is involved in the same broad area of national need and there are opportunities for reform towards improving   service delivery and addressing the needs of the citizens.  When multiple agencies or programmes across the tiers of the government have similar goals, engage in similar activities or strategies, or target similar beneficiaries, the overlapping agencies need to be revoked. The government should address many of these inefficiencies by reforming, reducing the funding for, and in some cases, eliminating these programmes. 

Very appropriately, PERC reports propose to reorganise, consolidate and even eliminate overlapping projects and programmes with a view to cut leakage and wasteful expenditure. These measures would allow the public programmes, projects and activities to meet and address the expectations of the people and save resources to support the needy people. The new coalition government should implement critical steps towards cutting wasteful expenditures, disuse of resources and materials at the federal, province and local level to ensure resource efficiency and maximise effectiveness of service delivery across all levels. 

(Rijal, PhD, contributes regularly to TRN and writes on contemporary political, economic and governance issues. rijalmukti@gmail.com)