The Parliament must as soon as possible start the process of appointing the new president of the Senate of the State Audit Institution (SAI) and the appointment of a new member of the Senate. Time lost in the current procedures should be compensated, because the obligations facing the SAI in the future require that it operates at full capacity.
The Administrative Committee will at the tomorrows session to elect a new member of the Senate, after more than three years since the post was made vacant. Meanwhile, SAI lost another member of its Senate, making vacant both the position of the Senate president and of the Senate member.
It would be disastrous for the development of the state audit and control of public finances, that the Parliament continues to appoint the Senate members at the current pace.
First, the Parliament needs to immediately start with the appointment of the President of the Senate, without waiting for a new member of the Senate to be appointed. According to the Law on SAI, the Parliament appoints the President from the existing Senate members. Therefore, there is no obstacles to begin this process as soon as possible.
Also, it is necessary to amend the agenda of tomorrow’s session of the Administrative Committee and make an agreement on the selection of the fifth member of the Senate, that is, on the beginning of the procedure for issuing a public call for candidates. Lead by the sole criteria of expertise and the current needs of the SAI, the Parliament must demonstrate accountability to its key ally in budgetary control of and the Senate to complete the budget and the SAI.
Obligations before SAI in the future, regular audits and additional obligations imposed by the Parliament, require making additional efforts to complete its capacities. Parliament recently adopted the conclusions on Aluminum Combine Podgorica (KAP), which, among other things, bear obligations for SAI to conduct and audit of KAP’s debt and the entire operations. The Parliament should therefore strengthen the SAI to be able to fulfill its obligations, and the first step on this path is to complete the appointment of the President and the Senate members.
Marko SOŠIĆ
Policy Analyst
