SEND Ghana calls for public participation in budget preparation
Ghana dropped 10 places to score 46 per cent on the transparency index for 2023 under the Open Budget Survey (OBS) with less public participation in the formulation, approval, implementation and audit of the country's annual budget.
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The drop on the OBS scoring was occasioned by the country’s weak parliamentary oversight and that of the Audit Service which led to a decrease in the availability of budget information to the public.
The OBS is the world's only independent, comprehensive and fact-based research instrument that uses internationally accepted criteria to assess public access to central government budget information; formal opportunities for the public to participate in the national budget process; and the role of budget oversight institutions, such as legislatures and national audit offices, in the budget process.
The budget helps local civil society to assess and confer with their governments on the reporting and use of public funds.
The research, which was the ninth edition covered 125 countries. A civil society organisation, SEND Ghana, conducted the survey in the country on behalf of its partners.
At the presentation of the research findings in Accra on Thursday, the Project Officer of SEND Ghana, Mohammad Tajudeen Abdulai, said the research assessed on the online availability, timelines and comprehensiveness of eight key budget documents using 109 equally weighted indicators and scored each country on a scale of zero to 100.
The eight documents relied on were pre-budget statement, executive's budget proposal, enacted budget, citizens budget, in-year report, mid-year review, year-end report and audit report.
Among the recommendations made under the transparency score, SEND Ghana called for the publishing of the in-year report online in a timely manner.
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Indeed, it said the In-year reports should be made available to the public no later than three months after the reporting period ends.
Also under its Public Participation and oversight, Ghana recorded 17 per cent while under budget oversight it rated parliament 19 per cent and the Audit service 44 per cent, making them very weak.
At every stage of the budget process, Ghana appeared to have performed abysmally. At the budget formulation stage, Ghana scored 33 per cent, approval stage, zero per cent, implementation stage, zero per cent and audit, 33 per cent.
SEND Ghana, recommended that the ministry of finance should among other things prioritise pilot mechanism to monitor budget implementation and expand mechanisms during budget formulation to engage any civil society organisation or member of the public who wishes to participate.
It said to improve parliament's oversight responsibilities, it should among other things debate the budget policy before the executive's Budget proposal is tabled and approve recommendations for the upcoming budget.
