COBTAK Recommendations to the KSHoA on Public Hearing of the 2014 draft Budget By Garba Haruna Idris which was delivered by Peter Hassan Tijani cobtakkano@ymail, [email protected] The coalitions want to extend its sincere appreciation and commend the house for resolving to hold public hearing on the 2014 appropriation budget for the first time. The coalition would in another dimension express concern over the 2014 appropriation budget. While citizens know they have a vote, they do not see their role beyond doing just that. When government does deliver some services, the majority of the people are largely victims of the decisions of the political class. They are victims because the electorate are rarely consulted or involved either in setting development priorities or implementing development projects. The issues of getting communities involved in the budgetary process is as much about exercising their rights as it is about supporting citizens to gain access to much needed social services, a requirement of the social contract between state and the citizenry. In the context of Nigeria’s emerging democracy, it is vital for the citizenry to be active participants in setting public expenditure priorities in order to ensure that democracy has real meaning for the people. Furthermore, participation in the budgeting process from drafting through to appropriation and implementation is a vital element for promoting transparency and accountability in governance. • In line with the above and coupled with the statement of His Excellency the Executive Governor of Kano State for curtailing of extra-budgetary spending, the coalition felt it of paramount importance for the House to consider passing the “Fiscal Responsibility Act and the Public Procurement Act” into law and ensure proper implementation of the two Acts. • As health and education will continue to form part of the direction of the 2014 budget as said by his Excellency in his budget speech. Though there was drop in the percentage allocation to Health sector from 8% in 2012 to 6% in 2013. The coalition appealed to the government to please consider the number of pregnant mothers who are dying daily during child birth in our public facilities and increase percentage allocation to the sector. The coalition strongly support the passage of “Free Maternal and Child Health Bill” to give a legal backing to the enormous investment made in the sector • The need for domestication of “Freedom of Information Bill” and proper implementation is also strongly advised by the coalition so as to give room for expenditure tracking and ensures transparency and accountability • Understanding the percentage of youth in our state coupled with the tremendous support they give to the coming in of this government, the coalition suggest the establishment of “Ministry for Youth Development” to integrate programmes targeted to youths for maximum impact and equally address some sort of social vices in the state like rape that is daily recorded in our electronic and print media It is our hope that our suggestions would be considered for improved service delivery in our state. Kano my city, my state. We thank you very much for the good job. More grease to your elbows.
Posted on: Fri, 24 Jan 2014 06:17:10 +0000