News / National
Zimbabwe government committed to improving budget transparency
09 Jul 2018 at 08:53hrs | Views
The National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO) and UNICEF commend the Zimbabwean government for its commitment towards improving budget transparency in Zimbabwe.
The commitment has been evidenced by the government's adherence to Open Budget Survey (OBS) recommendations and meaningful participation on national and international forums.
NANGO, in partnership with UNICEF, convened a meeting on 19 June that brought together a panel comprising of Jacob Nyamadzawo, UNICEF Social Policy and Data Analyst, Percy Takavarasha, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development Deputy Director Recurrent, Brian Masawi, Deputy Director of Audit at the Auditor General's Office and Kenny Chokuda the Clerk of Parliament to interact with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) from across the country. The panel concurred on the need for various stakeholders to complement each other in order to improve Zimbabwe's ranking in the OBS.
Social Policy and Data Analyst, Nyamadzawo asserted that there is a need to have more information published so that every citizen understands the budget processes. He highlighted the need for transparency and improvement in terms of participation of children to attain child friendly budgets.
Takavarasha, Deputy Director Recurrent, said the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development has a platform that allows for members of the public, business sector, CSOs and other institutions to play an oversight role in budget processes. He added that the reason why Zimbabwe scored a low percentage of 23% on transparency of budget processes is that, there is poor turn out of citizens that participate. He therefore encouraged CSOs to create platforms and invite the ministry to share information.
The Deputy Director of Audit, Masawi stated that the role of the Auditor General is to audit financial performance of different ministries and then report to parliament. He said although the reports are bulky and expensive to print and distribute, individuals and institutions were welcome to request copies or visit their highly interactive website.
The Clerk of Parliament, Chokuda, mentioned that there are challenges in building capacity of all Members of Parliament to speak with the same voice regarding budget processes. In a bid to improve the effectiveness of the MPs, Chokuda said when the next parliamentarians sit there are plans to educate them on budget processes and their role in improving the country's ranking.
116 countries from six continents participated in the 2017 round of the OBS then in May 2018, Zimbabwe, South Sudan and several other countries from the Eastern and Southern Africa Region (ESAR) participated in an OBS workshop in Nairobi-Kenya, co-organized by the IBP and the UNICEF ESAR office. Country delegates to this workshop discussed their 2017 OBS results and developed action plans to help improve their respective country scores in the upcoming 2019/20 round of the OBS. Amongst other things, the South Sudanese delegation to the Nairobi OBS workshop resolved to hold a National Budget Transparency Stakeholders' workshop in Juba, South Sudan.
The National Budget Transparency Stakeholders' workshop that was organised by Ministry of Finance and Planning (Budget Directorate) and UNICEF South Sudan (SPPME) then followed on 7 June 2018. The objective of the multi-stakeholder workshop was to orient the Executive, the Legislature, the Office of the Auditor General, and a selected group of OBS/public finance management stakeholders on key transparency themes pertaining to budgetary processes in the country, including on their respective roles in national budget processes.
The workshop was attended by NANGO Executive Director, Leonard Mandishara, Deputy Director of the Parliament Budget Office, Asha Jenje and Deputy Director Takavarasha. The heads of both the Specialised Committee on Accounts and the Committee on Economy, Finance and Development at the Transitional National Legislative Assembly, the Secretary General of the Government of South Sudan, and the Deputy Auditor General. In addition, in attendance were senior civil servants from the Ministry of Finance and the social sector institutions such as the Director General of Education and Health; Gender, WASH together with colleagues from their respective UNICEF sections, representatives of the UN World Food Programme, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and members of civil society organisations and the academia (e.g. University of Juba) were also in attendance.
In their presentation, the Zimbabwean delegation summarised their OBS processes and results, including how to identify what information is expected to be released during the budget process; identify the types of information required in the key budget documents to be comprehensive and useful; support parliament and civil society to use budget information and their engagement in budget process and engage civil society to support and contribute to government reforms.
Participants gained further insight and knowledge on the OBS and relevant processes, particularly in respect to establishing and maintaining relationship amongst key OBS stakeholders such as Ministry of Finance, the Parliament and CSOs. Importantly, the visiting delegation also shared their experience pertaining to the development and implementation of a public finance reform matrix in Zimbabwe, and as part this, the relevant OBS/PFM reforms being implemented in Zimbabwe.
The government of Zimbabwe has shown great commitment to reforms that can improve the country's budget transparency. This is anchored on the understanding that national budgets that are accountable, efficient, and transparent are crucial in the fight against poverty, inequality and also promote economic development. Further, a transparent national budget is a key imperator for ensuring the fulfilment of rights of the marginalized communities and progress towards the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, budget transparency leads to better-informed public debate about the design and results of fiscal policy, makes governments more accountable for budget implementation, and thereby strengthens credibility and public understanding of macroeconomic policies and choices.
The recently released 2017 OBS results, however classified Zimbabwe among countries that provide minimum budget information, with minimum opportunities for civil society and citizen participation in budgeting processes, as well as weak budget oversight. Zimbabwe is ranked 87 out of 115 countries, with a score of 23 over 100, a marked decline from 35 out of 100 in 2015.
On the back of declining scores, the country has taken key steps towards finding answers, including an all stakeholder workshop in Mutare, wherein, the key budget departments expressed commitment to take actions that improve budget transparency. Key actions identified included the need to prioritise publishing, online and in a timely manner, the pre-budget statement, executive's budget proposal, enacted budget, citizen's budget, in-year reports, mid-year review, year-end report and audit report.
In addition, the government committed to ensure that the Executive's Budget Proposal that is posted online matches the printed version, increased information on expenditure and revenue provided in the ExecuÂtive's Budget Proposal by including expenditure by functional classification and individual sources of tax and non-tax revenue as well as ensuring that the published Enacted Budget has more information as in the Executive Budget.
This should be complemented by institutional arrangements for the OBS, supporting citizens' engagement and capacity building or orientation of parliament.
The International Budget Partnership (IBP), in 2006 developed the OBS, which is a global research and advocacy program aimed at promoting public access to budget information and the adoption of accountable budget systems. The OBS is an objective, comprehensive, independent, global survey (the OBS) that analyses and evaluates whether governments give the public adequate access to budget information and opportunities to participate in the national budgeting process.
OBS is a biannual measure, anchored on three pillars: budget transparency; public access to key national budget information, public participation; opportunities for public participation in budget processes and budget oversight, the role of formal oversight institutions.
NANGO and UNICEF have been supporting the government efforts towards improving budget transparency as this is seen as an important step towards improving budgetary outcomes for the citizens, including the millions of women and children in Zimbabwe.
The commitment has been evidenced by the government's adherence to Open Budget Survey (OBS) recommendations and meaningful participation on national and international forums.
NANGO, in partnership with UNICEF, convened a meeting on 19 June that brought together a panel comprising of Jacob Nyamadzawo, UNICEF Social Policy and Data Analyst, Percy Takavarasha, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development Deputy Director Recurrent, Brian Masawi, Deputy Director of Audit at the Auditor General's Office and Kenny Chokuda the Clerk of Parliament to interact with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) from across the country. The panel concurred on the need for various stakeholders to complement each other in order to improve Zimbabwe's ranking in the OBS.
Social Policy and Data Analyst, Nyamadzawo asserted that there is a need to have more information published so that every citizen understands the budget processes. He highlighted the need for transparency and improvement in terms of participation of children to attain child friendly budgets.
Takavarasha, Deputy Director Recurrent, said the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development has a platform that allows for members of the public, business sector, CSOs and other institutions to play an oversight role in budget processes. He added that the reason why Zimbabwe scored a low percentage of 23% on transparency of budget processes is that, there is poor turn out of citizens that participate. He therefore encouraged CSOs to create platforms and invite the ministry to share information.
The Deputy Director of Audit, Masawi stated that the role of the Auditor General is to audit financial performance of different ministries and then report to parliament. He said although the reports are bulky and expensive to print and distribute, individuals and institutions were welcome to request copies or visit their highly interactive website.
The Clerk of Parliament, Chokuda, mentioned that there are challenges in building capacity of all Members of Parliament to speak with the same voice regarding budget processes. In a bid to improve the effectiveness of the MPs, Chokuda said when the next parliamentarians sit there are plans to educate them on budget processes and their role in improving the country's ranking.
116 countries from six continents participated in the 2017 round of the OBS then in May 2018, Zimbabwe, South Sudan and several other countries from the Eastern and Southern Africa Region (ESAR) participated in an OBS workshop in Nairobi-Kenya, co-organized by the IBP and the UNICEF ESAR office. Country delegates to this workshop discussed their 2017 OBS results and developed action plans to help improve their respective country scores in the upcoming 2019/20 round of the OBS. Amongst other things, the South Sudanese delegation to the Nairobi OBS workshop resolved to hold a National Budget Transparency Stakeholders' workshop in Juba, South Sudan.
The National Budget Transparency Stakeholders' workshop that was organised by Ministry of Finance and Planning (Budget Directorate) and UNICEF South Sudan (SPPME) then followed on 7 June 2018. The objective of the multi-stakeholder workshop was to orient the Executive, the Legislature, the Office of the Auditor General, and a selected group of OBS/public finance management stakeholders on key transparency themes pertaining to budgetary processes in the country, including on their respective roles in national budget processes.
The workshop was attended by NANGO Executive Director, Leonard Mandishara, Deputy Director of the Parliament Budget Office, Asha Jenje and Deputy Director Takavarasha. The heads of both the Specialised Committee on Accounts and the Committee on Economy, Finance and Development at the Transitional National Legislative Assembly, the Secretary General of the Government of South Sudan, and the Deputy Auditor General. In addition, in attendance were senior civil servants from the Ministry of Finance and the social sector institutions such as the Director General of Education and Health; Gender, WASH together with colleagues from their respective UNICEF sections, representatives of the UN World Food Programme, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and members of civil society organisations and the academia (e.g. University of Juba) were also in attendance.
In their presentation, the Zimbabwean delegation summarised their OBS processes and results, including how to identify what information is expected to be released during the budget process; identify the types of information required in the key budget documents to be comprehensive and useful; support parliament and civil society to use budget information and their engagement in budget process and engage civil society to support and contribute to government reforms.
Participants gained further insight and knowledge on the OBS and relevant processes, particularly in respect to establishing and maintaining relationship amongst key OBS stakeholders such as Ministry of Finance, the Parliament and CSOs. Importantly, the visiting delegation also shared their experience pertaining to the development and implementation of a public finance reform matrix in Zimbabwe, and as part this, the relevant OBS/PFM reforms being implemented in Zimbabwe.
The government of Zimbabwe has shown great commitment to reforms that can improve the country's budget transparency. This is anchored on the understanding that national budgets that are accountable, efficient, and transparent are crucial in the fight against poverty, inequality and also promote economic development. Further, a transparent national budget is a key imperator for ensuring the fulfilment of rights of the marginalized communities and progress towards the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, budget transparency leads to better-informed public debate about the design and results of fiscal policy, makes governments more accountable for budget implementation, and thereby strengthens credibility and public understanding of macroeconomic policies and choices.
The recently released 2017 OBS results, however classified Zimbabwe among countries that provide minimum budget information, with minimum opportunities for civil society and citizen participation in budgeting processes, as well as weak budget oversight. Zimbabwe is ranked 87 out of 115 countries, with a score of 23 over 100, a marked decline from 35 out of 100 in 2015.
On the back of declining scores, the country has taken key steps towards finding answers, including an all stakeholder workshop in Mutare, wherein, the key budget departments expressed commitment to take actions that improve budget transparency. Key actions identified included the need to prioritise publishing, online and in a timely manner, the pre-budget statement, executive's budget proposal, enacted budget, citizen's budget, in-year reports, mid-year review, year-end report and audit report.
In addition, the government committed to ensure that the Executive's Budget Proposal that is posted online matches the printed version, increased information on expenditure and revenue provided in the ExecuÂtive's Budget Proposal by including expenditure by functional classification and individual sources of tax and non-tax revenue as well as ensuring that the published Enacted Budget has more information as in the Executive Budget.
This should be complemented by institutional arrangements for the OBS, supporting citizens' engagement and capacity building or orientation of parliament.
The International Budget Partnership (IBP), in 2006 developed the OBS, which is a global research and advocacy program aimed at promoting public access to budget information and the adoption of accountable budget systems. The OBS is an objective, comprehensive, independent, global survey (the OBS) that analyses and evaluates whether governments give the public adequate access to budget information and opportunities to participate in the national budgeting process.
OBS is a biannual measure, anchored on three pillars: budget transparency; public access to key national budget information, public participation; opportunities for public participation in budget processes and budget oversight, the role of formal oversight institutions.
NANGO and UNICEF have been supporting the government efforts towards improving budget transparency as this is seen as an important step towards improving budgetary outcomes for the citizens, including the millions of women and children in Zimbabwe.
Source - Nango
