Participatory budgeting will deliver services

During the recently-concluded Kyankwanzi National Resistance Movement (NRM) retreat, it was resolved that “the NRM leadership and other individuals form a committee to lead the national budget preparation process in order to give the country an NRM budget as promised in the NRM manifesto.”

However, it is a fact that the current budget process incorporates Cabinet involvement from early stages, and there is a lot of room for the NRM caucus to be involved once the process is in Parliament; first for approval of National Budget framework paper, and later for the vote on account and finally passing the Budget Appropriation Bill.
Therefore, to prescribe more party involvement alone yet the current process is not delivering the desired results is in my view still missing the point.

What needs to happen is to open up the budget process and make it more inclusive, transparent and participatory by bringing on board all the stakeholders and sharing information very early in the budget making process.

This would allow for public debate and involvement in setting the social and economic priorities and budgetary allocations that would deliver quality and accessible social services to Ugandans.
A budget is a policy document, the detail of which indicates the country’s social and economic priorities and it gives an indication on whether the government is putting the necessary resources into fulfilling its promises.

Furthermore, it helps to reveal the choices that confront a government and its people about how to utilise limited resources.
It gives the picture of government estimated revenue and expenditure in a given financial year.

The budget process in Uganda is guided by the Budget Act 2001, which spells out the roles of Parliament and the Executive and stipulates the budget calendar and documentation.

The Act operationalises certain provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, 1995, including Chapter 9 on Finance and Chapter 11, Sections 190-197, on Finances of Local Governments.

However, what majority Ugandans know about the budget process is the characteristic budget speech ceremony that is done every June and is symbolised by the incumbent Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development pausing before media cameras with a briefcase bearing the Budget document. There is a lot of public speculation about who actually comes up with the budget.

Some have always claimed that it is drafted by foreign or international actors like the World Bank, whereas others believe it is done by a few members of Cabinet.

Peoples voice
It is only after this ceremony that Ugandans get to know what is contained in this document that subsequently forms the basis for the government expenditure following parliamentary approval.

The people’s voice is often heard for the first time after the budget speech, yet we know that this is a desperate time when line ministries have run out of money and are eager to have the budget passed in order for them to start implementing their projects.

Causing significant changes to the budget at this stage is extremely difficult – and we clearly saw this in 2012 regarding the health budget.

To date, participation by the people is only through a handful of strong NGOs that force their way into the process, but have specific mandates to fulfill and cannot ably represent all communities.
Going forward, there must be deliberate and systematic efforts to ensure public participation in setting budget priorities, budgetary allocations and monitoring government expenditure right from the local government level.

Government and NGOs must ensure wide dissemination of the budget cycle, train stakeholders in budget analysis and advocacy, and encourage civic engagement.

Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER)