Stakeholders stress transparency in budget making

Gul Hamad Farooqui 

BOONI: Young Star Development Organization (YSDO) in collaboration with Center for Peace and Development Initiative (CPDE) and Citizen Network for Budget Accountability (CNBA) held an awareness creating workshop in Booni, the district headquarters of Upper Chitral.

The theme of the seminar was “Stakeholders dialogue on transparent budgeting.” Former nazim Union Council Reshun Amirullah was chief guest  while retired Subedar Major Mirza Alam  presided over the seminar.

Inamullah, manager of YSDO, highlighted  the aims and objectives of the event and said YSDO organizes awareness seminars and workshops on public opinion and their involvement in the budgeting process in collaboration with these partners organizations so that public opinion can also be included in the budgeting process because budget is prepared for the welfare and development of the people. 

YSDO Chairman Asfandyar Khan said CPDI has released its fourth annual report on “Status of budget transparency in Pakistan – international best practices”. The report identified shortcomings in the budgeting process at the federal and provincial levels and called for a broader discussion of budget proposals with civic groups, government agencies and key stakeholders.

The purpose of this report was not only to present findings but to facilitate dialogue between governments, civil society and citizens at large. The report stated that Pakistan should consider launching a centralized digital platform to promote citizen participation. The platform should be designed to present complex budget details in a manner that citizens can easily understand.

Governments should prioritize the initiation of nationwide public consultations, including town hall meetings and workshops, during the critical phase of budget formulation. The report also calls for the preparation and release of separate budget statements for women, minorities, children and persons with disabilities, outlining specific allocations and strategies tailored to each group’s unique needs and challenges. The report calls for regularization of the citizen budgeting process in Pakistan through specific legislation or regulations.

According to the CPDI report, governments should make budget data available in widely machine-readable formats such as Excel and CSV. In addition, citizen participation in the budget-making process should be legally protected. And government institutions should be mandated to consult citizens during various stages of the budgeting process, especially the role of parliamentarians should be enhanced during budget formulation and implementation. 

With elected representatives, local government representatives, civil society representatives during the “Stakeholder Dialogue on Transparent Budgeting” organized by CNBA member organization (Citizens Network for Budget Accountability). 

The CPDI report also called for all Planning Commission forms (PC-I to PC-V) to be made available to the public at all federal and provincial levels. There is a need to focus on citizen participation in budgeting, monitoring of the legislature, budget debate period in parliament and fair budgeting.