Budget: Listening to the people
View(s):When the Business Times (BT) and its polling partner, Research Consultancy Bureau (RCB) conducted a poll last July on this year’s budget performance (so far) and expectations in the forthcoming 2013 budget, it was a unique attempt to check the pulse of the nation.
The findings published in the July 29 edition of the BT saw respondents agree that the Government was overspending; tax collections were low; ways to tackle the cost of living were ineffective, and so on.
The day after the poll was published, Treasury Secretary P.B. Jayasundera called a meeting of senior officials where a ‘people’s friendly’ budget process was discussed. Informally officials were told that suggestions made in the BT-RCB should also be considered.
That kind of response is welcome and it’s hoped the budget would eventually consider comments made in the poll.
In the same breadth, the Treasury/Finance Ministry should also consider a wide range of views reflected in what must be seen the first-ever citizens forum on the budget.
This week NGO group, the Active Citizenship for Development Network (ACDN) said it has submitted to the President, who will present the budget next month as Finance Minister, proposals from citizens across nine districts in Sri Lanka.
ACDN, which organized these discussions, said the recommendations cover four sectors of particular concern to these citizens groups and their larger community- agriculture; fisheries; estates; and state education.
Details of the proposals are published elsewhere in this edition and will appear with more depth in next week’s development section in the BT.
The enthusiasm in which people responded to the BT-RCB poll and also the ACDN initiative is a progressive step towards a radical approach to budget-making: Talking to the people.
Often Treasury/Finance Ministry officials have face-to-face meetings or entertain submissions for inclusion in the budget from focused groups like chambers, trade associations and the like. Rarely, or not even thought, are people’s representations.
In the BT-RCB, respondents said submitting budget proposals was of no use because the policymakers only listened to the elite and the intelligentsia – read chambers and powerful business interests.
That has been the case. However in fairness to the Government there is still no effective mechanism to enlist the views of the people (even if there is a will on the part of the authorities). Often marginalized societies are shut out in budget making though their interests or needs are reflected in the budget (without proper consultation however).
Recently a group of NGOs working on issues concerning migrant workers was told by government officials that while the government was interested in considering proposals from migrant workers, one of the problems was the question of representation. “When I brought your concerns of the need for migrant workers to be heard before the budget, the Treasury Secretary was keen on their views but he pointed out ‘whom do we talk to’,” an Economic Development Ministry official told the group. What the Treasury Secretary implied was that while chambers and sector interests like garments or plantations are organised, there is no single, authoritative body representing migrant workers that the Treasury could communicate with.
There lies the problem, and this is where the ACDN initiative could serve as a platform for the future where citizens’ groups, through an umbrella body, consult the people and bring their issues, budget-wise, to the table and ensure their concerns are also heard, along with business leaders and chambers.
The ACDN statement said the problems faced by these groups (in nine districts) range from the impact of drought on crops and low farm-gate prices for their produce; the high cost of diesel and kerosene, sea-grabbing for tourism projects and poaching by Indian trawlers; poor housing, education and social infrastructure on estates and their landlessness; and underinvestment in state education from pre-school through to tertiary-level.
In the BT-RCB poll of the budget, the people called for focus on national development, governance and accountability and the family unit.
Respondents also favoured a firm resolve from the President that he would not tolerate corruption and, mismanagement and a strong message in the budget that he would not tolerate abuse of power by ruling party politicians and interference in the legal system (police and the judiciary).
One hopes these efforts by a newspaper and a citizens group to reflect the opinion and views of the people in budget-making would trigger more similar initiatives across the island.
A budget for the masses, as the government is often prone to say ad nauseam, is incomplete if it doesn’t consult and consider the views of the people. Even if it’s unpalatable to the authorities.
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