Transparency

THE 2007 budget was not transparent, an Open Budget Survey and Index for 2008 has revealed.
This was because the government did not produce and disseminate four of the eight key budget documents required by international good practices.
The eight key budget documents included the Executive’s budget proposal, Enacted budget, Citizens budget and In-year report on execution which were made available and transparent and the Pre-budget statement, Mid-year review, Year-end report and Auditor’s report which were not made transparent and publicly available.
The survey which was conducted in 85 countries and aimed at ensuring budget transparency, was a collaboration between International Budget Partnership (IBP) and Civil Society Experts in which seven African countries participated.
The Budget Analyst of the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), Mr Nicholas Adamtey stressed the need for budget documents to be made available to the general public without hindrances.
He suggested that the budget should be made available to the public within a period of two to three months for thorough review and analyses before it is presented to parliament.
This he said, would ensure transparency and accountability for the effective use of public resources, as well as help the citizens of the country make informed decisions about the budget statement.
Mr Adamtey said the survey was not to measure corruption but to measure budget transparency and accountability.
He however added that, lack of transparency created opportunity for corruption and wasteful spending.
The survey stated that, the government of Ghana provided the public with about 49 per cent information on its budget and financial activities during the course of the budget year.
It stated that the budget proposal provided substantial information to the public which meant that citizens had a fairly comprehensive idea of governments plans for taxes and expenditure.
However it stated that, it was difficult to track spending, revenue collection and borrowing during the year, adding that, assessing the budget performance in Ghana was difficult once the budget year was over.
It indicated that a year-end report which was not published, prevented comparisons between what was budgeted and what was actually spent and collected at the end of the year.
“These make it difficult for citizens to hold the government accountable for its management of the public’s money”, the survey stated.
It therefore stated that citizen participation should go beyond improving access to key budget documents and also involve organisations and individuals to participate in budget debates.