By Isabella Gyau Orhin
A new study dubbed “Building the Demand Side of Good Governance: Enhancing conditions for Social Accountability in Ghana” has recommended that government should among others review the language and format of the national budget to make it simple for citizens to understand and participate in its formulation.
The study said for instance instead of saying “macro economic indicators,” the budget should say “intended progress in human development outcomes.”
The study also said government should support civil society efforts such as those undertaken by Centre for Budget Advocacy (CBA) of the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC) to undertake independent budget analysis and to promote public understanding of budget content and key issues.
The study was undertaken by the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) and the World Bank.
According to the study, citizen’s access to financial and budget information is particularly difficult and limited.
This seriously hinders participatory budgeting, independent budget analysis and expenditure tracking.
The study therefore recommended that government should make available information and processes related to the national budget and expenditures more open and accessible.
The government was also asked to make in-year reports, audit reports, Public Accounts Committee reports and reports on extra- budgetary activities available to the public.
Again, government according to the study recommendations should expedite the implementation of the 2003 Public Procurement Act including programmes for institution and capacity building as recommended in World Bank/IMF report of 2004.
The study further urged government to introduce the requirement for public officials to declare their assets, form a task force of government and civil society representatives to explore ways for improving access to data on public transfers and expenditures in sectors of priority and public interest.
According to the CDD-WB study, it will be important for government to introduce formal mechanisms for citizens and Civil Society organizations to make input into budget policies and debate.
“At the local level, government should continue to build upon piloting of composite budgeting and participatory budgeting process,” the study said.
In a reaction to the research report, the Head of the Budget Development Unit of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning Ms. Eva Mends said the doors of the ministry are always open to all those looking for information on the national budget.
She said very few individuals and organizations have shown interested in contributing to the budget.
She said each stage of the budget process is transparent and citizens as well as civil society groups can participate and send their contributions or seek information on it.
Aside from that, she said the budget is sent to Parliament with detailed estimates, but neither the Civil Society organizations nor the media follow-up to pick up the issues for public discussion and debate.
She said although, the budget processes are technical, so much can be done to break down the technical aspects of it.
Until public interest in the budget processes are whipped up, Ms. Mends said it would be difficult to build the demand side of good governance and social accountability.
“While acknowledging that a lot needs to be done, we should also try and build the capacity of the public to participate in the budget processes,” she said.
A policy Analyst with the CBA Nicholas Adamtten said over the past five or six years, the Centre has been working on the national budget, analyzing it and involving citizens in budget debates debate.
He said there are other offices in the Ministry where it is difficult to access information and this discourages the public from taking part in the budget processes.
Mr. Adamten said access to information in the districts is very difficult and called on the Ministry of Finance to simplify ways of getting access to financial information in the districts.
Speaking at the Stakeholder Review Workshop on the study, the Executive Director of CDD Ghana Prof. Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi said it is clear that there has been considerable progress in fostering public accountability in Ghana since the return to democratic rule under the constitution of the Fourth Republic. However he said few will deny that serious deficits remain in national efforts to institutionalize public accountability.
“The deficits are severe especially in the demand side of accountability which is a necessary complement to the supply side as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution.”
According to him, the 1992 constitution supplies a good framework for public accountability but there is insufficient citizen demand on state institutions and officials accountability. “This is where social accountability comes in, it is a fancy term describing citizen actions to secure accountability on the part of the state and its agencies and officials,” Prof. Gyimah-Boadi said.
The research report was developed and produced by the Participation and Civic Engagement Group of the World Bank with guidance and contribution by Beatrix Allah-Mensah and Kofi Marrah both of World Bank Ghana office and Carmen Monico.
In country research for the study was undertaken by the CDD under the leadership of Prof. Gyimah Boadi.
Source: Public Agenda Newspaper, Ghana
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