SHORT BIOGRAPHIES OF SOME SPEAKERS

ROBERT CLIFTON
Robert Clifton joined the AFRITAC South team as a Resident Public Financial Management Advisor on June 1, 2018. Prior to this role, he worked for the Government Technical Advisory Center at the National Treasury in South Africa where he served for 11 years. His experience is primarily focused on supporting budget reforms in different areas including budget monitoring and reporting, costing, expenditure review and public investment management. Since 2009, he has also participated in several missions with the IMF as a short-term expert in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Previously Robert worked for the US Treasury’s Office of Technical Assistance. He holds a Masters in Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs from the University of Texas.

JASON JACQUES
Jason Jacques is the Chief Finance Officer and Senior Director of the Costing and Budgetary Analysis Team at the Canadian Parliamentary Budget Office. Prior to joining PBO, he worked with various departments of the Government of Canada, including the Privy Council Office, Finance Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat and Bank of Canada. Jason holds an MA in Economics from Queen’s University, is a Chartered Professional Accountant, and CFA Charter holder.

MISAEL KATESHI
Mr Misael Fitzgerald Kateshi has eighteen years’ experience working with Parliamentary Committees in the National Assembly of Zambia. With respect to public financial management oversight, he has worked with the Public Accounts Committee; Committee on National Economy, Trade and Labour Matters; and Budget Committee. Since 2014, he has been working in the Interim Parliamentary Budget Office, which was granted departmental status on 1st August 2017. He was subsequently appointed Acting Deputy Principal Clerk – Parliamentary Budget Office, effective the same day. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Demography and Economics from the University of Zambia, and a Masters Degree in Management (Public and Development) from the University of the Witwatersrand. He has also undergone specialised training in budgeting at Rhodes University, Duke University, and the Centre for Parliamentary Studies and Training of the Kenyan Parliament. He is an also a CIMA management accounting technician.

SAHIR KHAN
Sahir Khan is the Executive Vice-President of the Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy at the University of Ottawa. Sahir has been a public finance executive, teacher, advisor and speaker for the last 12 years. The focus of his work has been on budgetary and financial analysis, reporting and organizational performance. Prior to co-founding the University of Ottawa (uOttawa) affiliated IFSD, Sahir was a Senior Visiting Fellow at the University of Ottawa. He has been a budget official for both the executive and legislative branches of government, having served over five years as the Assistant Parliamentary Budget Officer and three years at the Privy Council Office where he provided the Prime Minister with analysis and advice on budget, economic, tax and expenditure management issues. Sahir got his start in the public sector as Director of Oversight and Expenditure Management at the Treasury Board Secretariat. Professionally, Sahir is a turnaround and restructuring specialist having joined the public sector in 2004 from New York-based RKG Osnos Partners LLC (c.k.a. Deloitte LLP), where he was a Managing Director. He has also worked with Deloitte Consulting’s New York office and has led turnarounds in manufacturing, technology, and real estate and consumer products. Sahir holds a B.Comm. (Hon.) from Queen’s University and an MBA (finance) from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business.

HARRIET PRICE
Harriet has been working at the UK Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) for 4 years in various roles and most recently as a Digital-Communications Economist within the Strategy, Operations and Communications team. She leads on external communications via the OBR website and twitter profile. In her time at the OBR, she has developed the communication strategy and introduced new methods to disseminate and promote the OBR’s forecasts, projections and analysis. Harriet was educated at the University of Sheffield, UK and studied BSc Economics with Employment Experience, for which she spent a year placement at the OBR.

MOSES TUSUUBIRA
Mr Tusuubira is the Acting Director, Parliamentary Budget Office –Uganda. He joined the PBO as a Senior Economist, soon after the Budget Act, 2001 was signed into law, in July 2001. Despite the numerous administrative commencement challenges, he chose to stay and serve Parliament, rising through the ranks to the post of Assistant Director. Before he joined Parliament, he was an Assistant Lecturer at Makerere University, Kampala teaching Computer Skills for Economists. His background training is in Statistics and Applied Economics; he underwent further training in Economic Policy and Planning, and later developed a strong interest in Advanced Econometrics. He has a strong affection for developing and utilising Economic modelling, and is a member of the country’s modelling team for the Uganda Integrated Macroeconomic Model. At the PBO, he was entrusted with Fiscal analysis, for over a decade, and now handles Economic Analysis. Specifically, he serves the National Economy Committee and the Budget Committee, by analysing Government’s Economic and Budget proposals ensuring that all the provisions of Budget Laws are complied with. Currently, as an administrator, he focuses on building a stronger team of staff members and a more effective PBO; which will eventually ensure effective participation, transparency, openness and accountability of public resources, policies and legislation.