By Bida Elly David
Activists are asking the National Legislative Assembly to halt budget scrutiny until the Finance Ministry presents an in-depth report on how the previous budget was spent.
On Monday, the parliament conducted a public hearing on the SSP 2.1 trillion 2023-2024 fiscal budget.
Civil society organizations, women representatives, faith-based institutions, representatives of persons with disabilities, and members of the parliament among others, attended the budget hearing.
However, the activists said the tendency of the government to assume public expenditure report is not genuine and against the interest of the public.
A civil society activist, Kounda David warned parliamentarians never to approve the forthcoming budget without first presenting an in-depth expenditure report.
“Before you, parliamentarians pass the 2023-2024 budget; we need an expenditure report. The budget should not be passed if there is no expenditure report,” he said.
The activist attributed the ongoing economic turmoil and salary delays in the country to what he termed as “political game played by senior officials concerning the national budget.”
The activist questioned credibility of passing a budget before accounting for the previous one.
A representative for African Democracy and Resilience Network (ADRN), Wani Stephen Elias seeks clarity on the $ 2 Billion, stipulated as accumulated external debts to other Countries.
“If you look at the external debts of stock take that we have for this Country, we have $2 Billion external debts that mean our financial year of up to 2042 is already affected,” he cited.
Edmund Yakani, the executive director of the community empowerment for progress organization (CEPO) questioned proportionality of contingency allocation that exceeds civil servants’ salaries, in the budget.
He argued that the budget does not bear any accuracy as far as its allocation to various institutions is concerned.
Yakani called on the parliament to prioritize civil servants’ wages, noting that it should not be a talking game.
He stressed that the tendency of corruption within public institutions has constituted to poor remuneration to civil servants.
“Wages should be a priority. Parliamentarians need to ensure that civil servants’ wages are improved because if it is not, corruption will not be eliminated,” Yakani warned.
CEPO boss reiterated the need for the executive to explain how the revenues from the oil sector have been spent since it is the current source of the Country’s income that would cover salaries.