Preamble

Civil society organizations, district budget oversight committees, and councillors from across the country met at a conference organized by National Accountability Group (NAG) in collaboration with Movement of Concerned Kono Youth (MOCKY), National Coalition on Extractives (NACE), and Rehabilitation and Development Agency (RADA) on the 25th of February 2009 at the British Council Hall, Tower Hill, Freetown.

The purpose of this meeting was to examine the pro-activeness of civil society's intervention in the National Budget process with the view of identifying gaps and proffering possible solutions (which CSOs believe) will help make their intervention very pro-active and meaningful in the entire budget process.

Considering the lack of information sharing and the limited space provided for CSO's in the process, government not relating its allocation to priorities, and the lack of proper accountability and transparency mechanisms in place to ensure effective and judicious use of the allocated resources, civil society representatives present at the conference after a thorough deliberation on some of these issues, would like to table the following to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Parliament, civil society organizations and other stakeholders for serious consideration, if civil society's intervention in the National Budget is not only to be very pro-active but also very meaningful.

Against this background, we are therefore advocating that:

• There should be a total involvement of CSO's into the budgetary process (at every stage) from the formulation to the execution stage.
• Communities should be widely consulted in identifying priority areas for the formulation of the budget.
• The Ministry of Finance must empower and strengthen the District Budget Oversight Committees to carry out their functions effectively
• All information with regards the budget must be made open to the public in a timely manner.
• The National Budget should be abridged in a reader friendly manner for people to better understand it content.
• Parliament must ensure that the Appropriation Bill on the Budget is tabled before Parliament two months before the start of the next financial year as stipulated in the Government Budgeting and Accountability Act of 2005.
• Parliamentarians as representatives of the people must put aside political or partisan sentiments and put the interest of the people first when discussing the budget.
• Parliament must speedily enact the Freedom of Information Bill that has been tabled before them.
• The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development must make available the strategic plan and budget projection of the Ministries, Department and Agencies at least two weeks before the budget discussion
• The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development must invite more civil society representatives during the Policy Hearing and Budget Discussion.
• The quarterly report presented to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MOFED) by the District Budget Oversight Committees must be widely circulated.
• That MOFED ensures that the recommendations made during the Budget Discussion be made available to the Public
• The government must ensure that there is a strong civil society presence during discussions with development partners on the budget.
• Parliament must ensure that the Auditor General's Report is timely and should be widely publicized.
• Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) must endeavor to develop the appropriate skills to monitor and track budget execution.
• CSOs must put aside political and partisan sentiment to enhance fair deliberation of the National Budget, which will be in the interest of the nation.
• CSOs must be united in their budget work. They must speak with one voice on related issues.
• CSOs must galvanize their efforts to ensure the speedy enactment of the Freedom of Information Bill
• Members of CSOs must be refrain from active partisan politics
• CSOs should collaborate and share information with MDA's
• That CSOs be part of the meeting with the Development Partners
• CSOs as partners in national development must collaborate with Parliament to conduct joint monitoring exercises to ensure transparency and accountability in budget execution.
• CSOs should encourage/facilitate community participation in the budget process by organizing public fora using local dialects.

Published on Monday, 02 March 2009 in Cocorioko Newspaper with the title "Civil Service British Council Communique"