Promises and political accountability
By the Economist
Political accountability is an essential feature of democracy. Without such accountability the content of democracy is severely eroded. Regrettably Sri Lankan parties have not been politically accountable.

Political accountability begins at an election. Yet, election time is the season for rash promises that cannot be kept, once parties come into power.

Policies pursued after election could be very different to the promises given at the hustings. Sir Ivor Jennings spoke of this phenomenon as " Pandering to the masses" and "truckling to the multitude".

Some celebrated examples come to mind. Promise of free rice, bringing rice even from the moon, the vague promise of six kilos of grain and a Janasaviya allowance of Rs. 2500 per month to every individual receiving an income of less than this threshold are among them.

Accountability is important in all areas of national life. Accountability in economic policies is particularly important. A cardinal principle of democracy is that voters are aware of the socio-economic policies to be pursued by parties when they assume power. To state one set of policies and pursue another is to violate the principle of political accountability and undermine fundamental principles of democratic government.

Accountability is particularly important with respect to key economic policies. We have a situation today of coalitions that hold fundamentally different views and the electorate is uncertain about what the final outcome would be in the event of their coming to power.

Vitally important is the need to be clear and unambiguous in the statement of policies. Often economic policies are couched in such generalities that they could mean anything. This is no less a violation of political accountability. Such promises as that of developing the national economy or invigorating agriculture, encouraging industry, giving an equal place to the private and public sectors, are too vague to be of any guidance on actual policies.

What we need are policy directions and specific policies that would be adopted to achieve such objectives. Therefore a clear statement on such issues as privatisation, trade policies, agricultural subsidies, educational and administrative reforms and welfare measures is much needed.

A third important area of political accountability is to state how any new measures of government expenditure would be financed. Rash promises are made at election times without any consideration of the ways by which these measures would be financed. Such promises though ineffectual can be deciding factors in influencing the voters.

Sometimes rash promises are implemented without due consideration of their economic consequences owing to political expediency much to the detriment of the economy in the long run. Once one party makes a rash promise to give a bonanza, other parties tend to promise even better things. Neither party would have any idea of how to finance such proposals.

In mature democracies it is obligatory on parties espousing additional expenditures to explain how the finances would be found. What are the commensurate tax proposals that would finance the new expenditure?

There are three important ways in which political accountability must be established at election time. First, political parties must be clear and unambiguous about their economic principles and policies. This is particularly significant when a new coalition with diverse economic policies in the past get together. There should be a consistency in their policies.

In as far as the incumbent government is concerned, they should be judged mostly by the policies they have been pursuing. Promises of things they would do may sound hollow if there have been no efforts to implement such policies when in power.

An equally significant yardstick for measuring the credibility of the opposition parties is what they did when previously in power. Where they intend to change any such policies must be indicated clearly.

Second, they must explain how the financial resources would be found to implement their policies. This is particularly relevant with respect to government expenditure on welfare measures. Vague statements that we will 'somehow or the other' find the money are misleading.

Third, governments must remain committed to implement the policies they have promised in their manifestos and economic statements during election time. To make promises that are not implemented is a gross violation of the principle of accountability.

Political accountability is by no means confined to economic policies. They are as important in other areas such as the future constitutional development of the country, the broad principles of devolution of power and minority rights in religion and language, and women's rights, among others.

However political accountability in economic policies is often the most violated and requires remedying. Besides, political accountability should be a continuous process spanning the entire lifetime of a government. The democratic process of electing governments should strengthen rather than weaken accountability to the electorate.

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