Push for openness in public spending - PAC Chair

Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Dr. Albert Kan-Dapaah has called on civil society and the media to push for transparency and openness in the use of public budgets to curb excess spending and ensure accountability.

Speaking at a media dialogue organised by SEND-Ghana on “Open Budget Tracker Survey and Post 2015 Development Agenda” in Accra, he said inasmuch as government is obliged to account to the people, it behoves social actors and think-tanks to push those demands to keep public officers in check.

“There is a need for civil society, especially the media, to monitor public expenditure to ensure value for money; government must feel obliged to account to the people, but the public must demand from government how it uses the public purse.

“We want to curb excess spending, ensure budget transparency and fiscal accountability; but all these will be achieved if the media and civil society seek involvement in prioritising government expenditure, and also make the push for openness in use of public finances,” he said.

The dialogue was to keep journalists informed about how they can leverage the Open Budget Survey Tracker to monitor whether government is promoting budget transparency by publishing each of the eight key budget documents on time as per international standards.

Using data collected by independent civil society budget experts in the countries covered, the OBS Tracker monitors and reports on whether central governments of 30 countries are publishing, on time, the eight key budget documents required by international standards on budget transparency.

Country Director of Send-Ghana, George Osei Bimpeh, called for a democratic sphere that allows citizens to be part of the country’s developmental agenda.

He said government must shift from producing an executive budget to a participatory budget, whereby citizens could get the chance to know government priorities so that they make a meaningful contribution into the budget processes.

“We must enforce the use of the budget to meet the aspirations and socio-economic needs of Ghanaians, and also challenge duty-bearers to understand the excesses in public spending.

“But this requires collective responsibility from all stakeholders, including the media and civil society organisations,” he said.

Mr. Bimpeh said even though Ghana as a country has chalked up some success in terms of achieving all the eight features of open budget index, it has missed the first target pre-budget statement.

Senior Programme Officer of International Budget Partnership on International advocacy, Claire Schouten, noted that transparency can help shine the light on leakages and improve efficiency in public expenditure.