MPs told to focus on budget funding
May 17, 2010
A senior budget expert has advised MPs to pay attention to the source of the money for the budget, rather than focusing on what is in the budget for their constituencies.
By Madinah Tebajjukira
A senior budget expert has advised MPs to pay attention to the source of the money for the budget, rather than focusing on what is in the budget for their constituencies.
Dr. Anthony Tsekpo, a senior budget expert of the Parliamentary Centre in Accra, Ghana, on Sunday said in some parliaments, MPs focus on the expenditure side of the budget, leaving the revenue side least discussed.
He said there is need for lawmakers and civil society organisations to discuss issues such as how the budget is funded and how to raise tax revenue.
Tsekpo was addressing the challenges in the budget process in Africa at the opening of a three-day training workshop at the Imperial Botanical Beach Hotel in Entebbe.
The workshop was intended to provide parliamentary staff with tools to assist MPs in their budget oversight role.
The workshop is also intended to help the staff appreciate the different roles of MPs in the budget cycle and help improve what they (staff) deliver to them. Uganda is in the process of coming up with a budget for the next financial year, which begins July 1.
Tsekpo stressed the importance of openness in the budget process and commended Uganda for having a law that allows interaction with various stakeholders on the budget.
Opening the workshop, the director of the planning and development co-ordination office, Dison Okumu, said parliaments play an essential role in ensuring that budgets reflect public policy and planning in addition to being expended efficiently.
“As supreme representative institutions at the national level, parliaments are under obligation to ensure not only that the will of the electorate prevails, but also that public money is equitably raised, efficiently spent and can be properly accounted for,†Okumu said.
The training was organised by the Parliamentary Centre in partnership with the Parliament of Uganda and the Economic Policy Research Centre.
A senior budget expert has advised MPs to pay attention to the source of the money for the budget, rather than focusing on what is in the budget for their constituencies.
Dr. Anthony Tsekpo, a senior budget expert of the Parliamentary Centre in Accra, Ghana, on Sunday said in some parliaments, MPs focus on the expenditure side of the budget, leaving the revenue side least discussed.
He said there is need for lawmakers and civil society organisations to discuss issues such as how the budget is funded and how to raise tax revenue.
Tsekpo was addressing the challenges in the budget process in Africa at the opening of a three-day training workshop at the Imperial Botanical Beach Hotel in Entebbe.
The workshop was intended to provide parliamentary staff with tools to assist MPs in their budget oversight role.
The workshop is also intended to help the staff appreciate the different roles of MPs in the budget cycle and help improve what they (staff) deliver to them. Uganda is in the process of coming up with a budget for the next financial year, which begins July 1.
Tsekpo stressed the importance of openness in the budget process and commended Uganda for having a law that allows interaction with various stakeholders on the budget.
Opening the workshop, the director of the planning and development co-ordination office, Dison Okumu, said parliaments play an essential role in ensuring that budgets reflect public policy and planning in addition to being expended efficiently.
“As supreme representative institutions at the national level, parliaments are under obligation to ensure not only that the will of the electorate prevails, but also that public money is equitably raised, efficiently spent and can be properly accounted for,†Okumu said.
The training was organised by the Parliamentary Centre in partnership with the Parliament of Uganda and the Economic Policy Research Centre.