write what is the importance of accountability in public administration ? ( 350 words )
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Answer:
Public Accountability is one of those golden concepts that is an end in itself. It's an umbrella term that
includes other distinct concepts like democracy, efficiency, responsiveness, responsibility, and
integrity. It conveys an image of transparency and trustworthiness; and it holds strong promises of fair
and equitable governance.
What does public accountability involve?
'Accountability' refers not to those in power holding their subjects to account, but to the authorities
being held accountable by their citizens.
'Public' refers to 'openness', in the sense that the account is not rendered discretely, behind closed
doors, but is open to the public.
Public accountability involves the obligation to: provide information about performance; to explain
decision making; and to justify conduct. It implies the possibility of debate, of public questions and
governmental answers and eventually of judgment by citizens. And such judgement in turn implies the
imposition of sanctions on government in case of malperformance.
These sanctions can be highly formalized, such as fines, disciplinary measures, civil remedies or
even penal sanctions, but they can also be based on unwritten rules, as in the case of the political
accountability of a minister to parliament, where the sanction can comprise calling for the minister’s
resignation. Often the punishment will only be implicit or informal, such as the very fact of having to
render account in front of television-cameras.
Political Accountability
Voters 'delegate' their sovereignty to popular representatives, who in turn delegate the majority of
their authority to a cabinet of ministers. The ministers subsequently delegate authority to their civil
servants or to various independent, administrative bodies. The mechanism of political accountability
operates precisely in the opposite direction to that of delegation. In parliamentary systems with
ministerial accountability, public servants and their organisations are accountable to their minister,
who must render political account to parliament.
Social Accountability
In reaction to a perceived lack of trust in government, there is a demand in many western
democracies for more direct and explicit accountability relations between public agencies on the one
hand and clients, citizens and civil society on the other hand. Particular attention has been focused on
the role of NGOs, interest groups and customers or clients as relevant ‘stakeholders’ in determining
policy. And the rise of the internet has given a new dimension to this form of public accountability.
Why is public accountability important?
Public accountability is important because it provides a democratic means to: monitor and control
government conduct, prevent the development of concentrations of power, and enhance the learning
capacity and effectiveness of public administration.
Democracy & Popular Sovereignty
Public accountability is an essential condition for the democratic process, as it provides citizens with
the information they need to judge the propriety and effectiveness of the conduct of the government.
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