CSOs in Tanzania to establish a Parliamentary Budget Office

October 2010
By Elias Mhegera
THE Policy Forum, a network of over 100 civil society organizations, on Sunday last week called on Members of Parliament to advocate for the establishment of a Parliamentary Budget Office.

According to the press communiqué that was circulated to the members of the forum and the media, the need for an independent non-partisan Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) was vital so as to strengthen the legislature’s oversight role in the budget process.

“The network has for a long time observed the performance of Parliament in delivering upon democratic governance and is concerned that it is wanting in exercising its budgetary oversight function,” the release quoted Moses Kulaba, a member of the coalition’s Budget Working Group.

Kulaba observed that parliament’s weakness in execution of this key oversight duty contrasts sharply with the executive’s management of the whole budget process. “There is minimal involvement of Parliamentarians in the process,” he earlier added.

The 2011 Open Budget Index, a comprehensive survey that evaluates whether governments give adequate public access to budget information and opportunities to stakeholders to participate in the budget process, confirms this weakness.

On the other hand Semkae Kilonzo, the network’s Coordinator, said the 2010 Open Budget Index rated the Tanzanian parliament’s budgetary oversight as being weak because it does not have full powers to change the executive’s budget proposal at the start of the budget year.

Moreover he added that the parliamentary committee does not have sufficient time to discuss and approve the executive’s budget proposal – citing receipt of the budget in less than six weeks before the start of the financial year; and it does not hold open discussions at which the public can participate.

An independent Parliamentary Budget Office, established under the structures of the legislatures would, among other things, examined the draft annual budget proposed by the executive and provides analytical support to parliamentarians to be able to question the proposal in question and enable them to propose alternative budget proposals.

Its key role is to produce objective budgetary, fiscal and programmatic information for legislators to be able to contribute, interpret, review and make concrete judgments regarding budget proposals – hence effectively exercising their oversight functions.

“The PBO has been established in other jurisdictions like Kenya, Uganda and Ghana who previously had parliamentarians who experienced the same problems as ours. The evidence from these countries is that MPs have strengthened their capacity and are now more engaged in the budget process giving meaningful inputs to the executive’s proposals,” said a vigilant Kulaba.

Parliament’s oversight of the budget process involves monitoring and review of the entire budget process including the broad fiscal challenges facing government, expenditure controls and budgetary tradeoffs that affect present and future spending.

On the overall, the budgetary oversight function is part of a checks-and-balances system that ensures that there is accountability in the utilization of inadequate financial resources. As a network, Policy Forum works together to open up and influence policy processes in Tanzania being an essential component in this country’s governance.