The national audit office (NAO) has a vision. It says it is bent on promoting good governance and ensuring accountability of public funds. Now, a vision is a mere pleasing and imaginative plan for the future. Given the mindset that is fast developing in government circles, the NAO's vision may forever remain imaginative as far as accountability and good governance are concerned.

How accountable are the different government ministers of the day? This question is bound to crop up when one reads the last audit report. The director of audit underlines the fact that the ministry of Health, for example, has not addressed problems identified by various studies effected in the past. The average food wastage rate of 30% costs the country Rs 21 million yearly. But this problem is not new, for the audit report points to the fact that ?this finding has continuously been singled out over the years.? Who can talk of accountability when the ministry has not over the years thought it fit to address such a scandalous wastage?

Still more disquieting is the arrogant silence of the ministry of Health in the face of the audit's report. In what country, apart from a banana republic, would a minister be allowed to keep silent after such a damning report on his ministry? In what country can a minister of Health get away with such things as rat-infested, greasy hospital kitchens?

It appears even more scandalous when one knows that it is a must in every ministry to make a follow-up of every audit report by an internal enquiry. Corrective measures are implemented and a report is then sent to the director of audit. Had that been done in the ministry of Health, the country would not have lost Rs 21 million in 2001-2002, money that is still being squandered today to the tune of Rs 65 000 per day.

Perhaps, to change the mindset and help to ?redress our country?, ministers' menus should be changed. It should be made mandatory for ministers to go public after the audit's report, acknowledge the findings, explain the corrective measures taken and report results obtained after implementation.

Such a strategy, instead of the shameful silence of ministers taken to task by the audit report, would have helped to boost government's image and credibility. This damning report coupled with the silence of ministers concerned is harming the ?let's redress our country? slogan. It is beginning to sound hollow.

Fortunately, the deputy prime minister and minister of Finance presented on Saturday last what he called a Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) to crack down on misuse of public funds, over and under budgeting.

A ray of hope. Public investment will henceforth be result-oriented. Ministries will have to plan their investment three years in advance.

Unfortunately, the MTEF cannot be introduced at once in all ministries. The electoral rat race will not wait. It has already started.