Media urged to intensify education on citizen participation

The mass media has been called upon to intensify public education on the importance of citizen’s participation in government’s budget processes especially at the level of the decentralized Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies.

This would help to overcome public distrust, ensure greater transparency, inclusiveness, accountability and equity in the allocation and management of national resources.

Nii Lante Vanderpujie, Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, made the call at the launch of a media campaign, initiated by the Social Accountability Unit of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.

The six-week campaign, which was on the theme; “Citizens, Know Your Budget” was to increase citizen awareness and understanding of Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies (MMAs) and national budget processes so that they would understand, ask questions and contribute to broader discussions on these issues.

Mr Vanderpujie said citizen participation at the local level remains very weak inspite of the numerous reforms in the governance system over the years, adding that, government was committed to the Decentralisation Action Plan, which prioritizes citizen participation in local governance and development.

According to him, a campaign to educate and encourage citizens to participate, especially in the budget process, was timely and positive, in an era where accountability had become a watch-word for good governance.

“Indeed, greater participation of civil society and citizens in the decision making processes, especially in the planning and budgeting processes of the Local Government, improves quality and leadership”, he said.

The Social Accountability initiatives, which seek to stimulate demand for accountable local governance and improved service delivery, had designed a range of activities to increase citizen’s awareness of key local government processes as well as build their interest to participate in them.

The project had supported a number of Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies (MMAs) to actively engage citizens on Financial Management issues of the Assemblies through the Social Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (SPEFA) process and Town Hall meetings.

It had also established Media Network initiatives, which had enhanced information sharing between local governments and citizens, especially in the 46 MMAs involved in the project.

Mr Vanderpujie explained that the SPEFA forums brings together representatives of identified citizen groups in the municipality to increase their understanding of local government financial management issues and also enhance their skills, which had made it possible for over 3,000 ordinary citizens to engage directly with district officials on budget and development issues.

Mr Anthony Mends of the Fiscal Decentralisation Unit of the MLGRD, explained that a budget template had been developed to disseminate information to the public, using very simple, clear and pictorial representation of proposed projects, number projects, location of projects as well as sources of funding for such projects among other things.

He said this template must be such that, persons with elementary education could even understand the issues and be able to monitor and pose questions to the implementers.