BOPEU Calls For A Citizen Budget

Correspondent | Monday January 23, 2017 16:34

Motsamai adds that openness of the national budget is also very important and encapsulates government’s responsibility to share all critical information with regard to the national resource base and associated revenues.

The BOPEU document observes that Botswana continues to perform badly in respect of national budget openness, as evidenced by the 2010 Open Budget Index which showed a declining performance across three  consecutive occasions.

According to the BOPEU document, the Index reports from the years 2006, 2008 and 2010 show a decline from 65% in 2008 to 62% in 2008 and 51% in 2010, adding that transparency and openness is critical towards attaining an inclusive national budget. “The country’s willingness to share information about national resources and related revenues is a critical step in allowing citizens to be able to participate meaningfully in the national budget process. A national budget ought to represent a middle ground on all pressing and demanding societal needs”. The BOPEU document further says it is for this reason that the budget process must be open and participatory. “It cannot be the reserve of a few government technocrats, corporations and members of the political elite”. According to the document, the participatory budgeting method is the brainchild of the Brazilian Worker’s Party and has been hailed as a success as it encourages transparency, accountability and increases public participation, especially the poor and the rural dwellers.

Brazil’s most documented model of participatory budgeting is applied at the level of Municipalities to which budgetary allocations are made for civic improvement, the BOPEU document says. 

BOPEU suggests  that Botswana could adopt the same model and expand it to a national level. While  acknowledging  the stakeholder consultations that government normally conducts during the budget process, the document observes that such consultations are  convenient only for the privileged members of the society being mostly the elites and the middle class, leaving out  the poor members of the society whose dire needs are not clearly articulated and incorporated into the budget.

“First and foremost communities should be encouraged to debate and agree on important issues affecting their communities. The lowest level of participation should be at village level. Approved proposals should then be elevated to relevant local authorities in the form of district and urban councils who are better placed to advice on issues affecting local communities and on technical budgetary issues.

Functional channels between the Local and Central Government should be put in place in order for the Central Government to receive final approved budget proposals for Local authorities. This approach will ensure that each and every citizen is conferred with the opportunity to air their opinion concerning the national budget hence achieving a citizen driven budget”, noted  BOPEU leader Motsamai.