Transparency and Accountability: Walloon Parliament’s Use of Public Funds

2023-12-12 08:07:00

Do the Walloon deputies of the majority (PS-MR-Écolo) remember that the money they spend to operate the institution or that they use when they go on mission is public money? The question deserves to be asked following the meeting of the Accounting Committee which was held on Monday followingnoon. A commission which, as a reminder, was created following the “clerk affair” with the avowed aim of providing transparency on Parliament’s expenses and understanding why the extension of the premises cost so much.

The clerk came to listen to the debates

This Monday’s session focused on the accounts for the year 2022. The year is interesting since it is the last year during which the clerk Frédéric Janssens worked in the Walloon Parliament before being dismissed in the month of september. Let us also point out that the former clerk had made the trip and sat in the audience to attend the session. A presence which caused a slight unease among the deputies who sit within the Accounting Committee.

However, the discomfort did not last long. The session, which promised to be interesting (without prejudging anything) since it was a question of discussing, among other things, the costs (restaurants, travel, etc.) of each party, was held behind closed doors . The reason ? “Do not risk invalidating the current judicial investigation,” indicated the president of the commission Joëlle Kapompole (PS). In other words, when discussing the 2022 accounts, the deputies were going to mention people by name. Despite the PTB’s desire to start the commission in public session and then move into closed session, the meeting will have been completely closed to the public and the press. Because Frédéric Janssens was present? If some deputies consider that the suspended clerk came to push them into error, others believe that he was there to force the closed session.

The Clerk returned to Parliament

Odd ? Maybe not, but we won’t know more. Some information gleaned here and there demonstrates in any case that the content of this commission was of some interest. The PTB acknowledges having voted once morest the majority’s proposal to vote for the regularity of the accounts. “Because we are asked to approve accounts. We do not want this since there are still unanswered questions, explains the PTB group leader, Germain Mugemangango. There is too great a lack of information on certain expenses.” Basically, we can wonder who validated the restaurant expenses of certain prominent people in the Walloon Parliament (President, clerk, etc.). The PTB therefore wants the “former members of the office to be heard”. The Committed, for their part, abstained from voting on the majority text.

In any case, the three parties that make it up seem to want to resolve this matter as quickly as possible.

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