Protozoa pushes for parliamentary budget offices, calls for stronger fiscal institutions across Africa

At the continental health and governance forum in Lusaka, Suhum Member of Parliament, Frank Asiedu Bekoe, popularly known as Protozoa, used his platform to shift the focus of discussions beyond health systems into the broader foundations of public finance and legislative capacity, calling for the urgent establishment of Parliamentary Budget Offices (PBOs) across African parliaments.

Speaking at the forum, which forms part of the 17th meeting of the Network of African Parliamentary Committees on Health (NEAPACOH), Protozoa argued that Africa’s development challenges, including weaknesses in health systems, cannot be separated from the structural gaps in how parliaments plan, analyse, and oversee public finances.

He stressed that the absence of institutionalised Parliamentary Budget Offices has left many budget and finance committees operating without the technical backbone required for independent budget analysis, economic forecasting, project costing, and evidence-based decision-making.

According to him, this gap weakens legislative oversight and contributes to poor long-term planning across critical sectors such as health, education, and infrastructure.

“Including the establishment of Parliamentary Budget Offices in our various parliaments will go a long way to assist budget committees in forecasting, in costing projects, and in taking decisive decisions on matters that come before them,” he told the forum.

“Unfortunately, this is conspicuously missing in the current proposals, and I will be grateful if this is considered.”
His intervention reframed the conversation from reactive governance to sustainable, long-term financing, arguing that without strong fiscal institutions within parliaments, African legislatures remain dependent on executive data, external consultants, and donor-driven policy frameworks.

Protozoa noted that true resilience and sustainability require independent technical capacity within parliaments to provide non-partisan advice on budgets, macroeconomic risks, and fiscal sustainability.

Drawing from Ghana’s parliamentary experience, he highlighted the increasing pressure on budget committees to take decisions on complex financial matters without adequate analytical tools.

He warned that this weakens fiscal oversight and limits parliament’s ability to play its constitutional role in protecting public resources.

Beyond health financing, his message linked universal health coverage, emergency preparedness, and system resilience to deeper governance reforms.

According to him, sustainable development cannot be achieved through isolated sectoral policies but must be built on strong institutions that support long-term planning, credible forecasting, and accountable budgeting.

The Lusaka forum, themed “Re-positioning the Role of Parliamentarians for Enhancing Health Systems for Emergency Response, Equity, Resilience and Sustainability in the Context of Attaining Universal Health Coverage,” brings together lawmakers, policy institutions, and development partners from across Africa to rethink the role of legislatures in development governance.

Protozoa’s call for Parliamentary Budget Offices was widely viewed as a strategic contribution, shifting attention to the structural capacity of African parliaments rather than only policy outcomes.

By advocating for independent budget analysis units, capacity building, fiscal oversight mechanisms, and economic forecasting systems, he positioned parliamentary reform as central to Africa’s long-term development agenda.