Ghana has scored 46 out of 100 in the gobal, 2023 Open Budget Survey (OBS), which examines public access to central government budget information.
The OBS is a world only independent, comparative and fact-based research instrument that uses internationally accepted criteria to assess public access to central government budget information.
Mr Mohammed Tajudeen Abdulai, Program Officer of SEND Ghana, in his presentation, indicated that, Ghana’s performance in the OBS has retrogressed.
He highlighted that Ghana had declined in the availability of the budget information because they failed to publish the In-Year Reports online on time and also reducing the information provided in the executive’s budget proposal.
He said, the survey largely attributed Ghana’s low record on public participation performance (scored 17 out of 100) which revealed that citizens did not participate at the various stages of the budget process and also the failure to publish all the eight budget documents on time.
The report recommended that the Ministry of Finance should pilot mechanism to monitor budget implementation, and actively engage with vulnerable and under-represented communities directly or indirectly through civil society organisations to ensure enough budget allocation.
It suggested that parliament and the audit service should allow members of the public or civil society organisations testify during its hearing on the budget proposal prior to approval and audit report hearing.
The report recommended also that, the Executive’s Budget Proposal (EBP), should be submitted to the legislators at least two months before the start of the year and the committee must examine In-year budget and publish reports with their findings online.
Mrs Harriet Nuamah Agyeman, Country Director of SEND Ghana, said in interview that, Ghana’s performance in the OBS was a charge for all the three arms of government to put effort in promoting good governance or initiate mechanisms to engage the public extensively on budget issues.
She said government must be ready to open up, involve citizens to participate in decisions which would give good accountability to citizens for effective democracy.