Ministry launches campaign for citizen participation in budget
A recent survey by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in 23 metropolitan and municipal assemblies (MMAs) has revealed that 98 per cent of respondents have never participated in any budget process of their respective assemblies.
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The survey, which had 3,678 respondents, looked at citizens’ perception of local government performance.
It said more than a third of the respondents were not aware of their rights to participate in the budget process of the assemblies.
A Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Nii Lantey Vanderpuije, who presented the findings of the report in Accra yesterday, said "only two per cent of respondents were aware of their MMAs' sources of revenue and less than one per cent was aware of the expected income of their assemblies”.
He was speaking at the launch of a media campaign to promote and encourage citizens’ participation in district and national budget processes in the country.
About the campaign
The six-week campaign, on the theme: "Citizens, Know Your Budget", was initiated by the Social Accountability Unit of the Ministry of Local Government under the Local Government Capacity Project (LGCP).
It seeks to increase citizens’ awareness and understanding of MMAs and national budget.
The campaign is also to inform the media about the budget process to help them understand, ask questions, and contribute to broader discussions on local and national budgets.
It will be carried out at the national and district levels, including the publication of feature articles and the initiation of public discussion and information on various media platforms.
Good governance
Mr Vanderpuije said greater participation of civil society and citizens in the decision-making process, especially in the planning and budgeting process of the local government, would help to improve the quality of leadership and services.
Accordingly, he said, over the years, reform programmes had been introduced to enhance public sector efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability.
In spite of the reforms, he said, citizens’ participation in the local government levels remained weak, hence the need to promote and strengthen fiscal decentralisation, as well as local government accountability mechanisms, in 46 MMAs.
In her address, the Head of the Budget Reforms Unit of the Ministry of Finance, Ms Eva Mends, said there were two sides to the budget which were the supply side and the demand side.
She explained that the supply side was when the politicians would give to the people what was needed, while the demand side was when the citizens would demand from the politicians to account for the resources used.
Ms Mends, therefore, called on the public to show interest in knowing about the budget and what the monies allocated to the assemblies were used for.