Like most of the Eastern African countries , the kenyan annual budget circle runs from june to july. This year , as has become the ritual, the government held a three days' budget hearing in the capital city Nairobi. The hearings are open to the public but it is quite obvious that they are merely public relation exercises as most if not all the critical budgetary decisions continue to be made by technocrats behind closed doors. In deed just about a week ago the President , Mwai Kibaki, vetoed a Bill which had tried to give Parliament more power in the budget-making. His reason? That this would be an unjustified intrusion in what is otherwise the province of the executive. Although several afforts are now underway to open the budget process and in particular ensure that it complies with teh country's human rights obligation, alot more knowledge and skills on how this can be done more effectively is clearly called. Any body out there with some experiences to share?
The issue raised by my friend and colleague Odindo Opiata is an interesting one. While in Kenya we have very little experience on how to create platforms for citizen participation in the budgetary process, our friends from other parts of the world, especially Latin America, have longer experience. We have read, for example, of what the Brazilians have managed to do over the years. It would be valuable to learn more from them. If we can get a critical mass of citizens not only interested in the process but also knowledgeable about it, it would help to start fighting the kind of obstacles placed in the way by politicians and others bent on serving their own narrow interests.
For the third year in a row the Nairobi People's Settlment Network and Kisumu Social Rights Association launched the People's Budget on the 21st of May 2009 at the famous Ufangamano hall Nairobi. Attended by over 500 representatives from the people's settlemensts(informal settlements) in Nairobi and Kisumu, the participants continued to demystfy the budget process by making it more people-friendly. It is indeed a milestone in people's advocacy because, the budget is now being looked more as a tool for the realization of human rights and not an abstract document only understood and commented upon by economists and not-very informed politicians. It will be recalled that during their 2008 budget they were the first to collectively and openly call for the taxation of members of parliament income. When the government budget was presented this recommndation was incorporated only to be shot down by teh selfish members of parliament. It is hoped that thsi process will eventually lead to a sustained national movement for people's involvement in the entire budgeting process thereby making it more sensitive to the human rights demands.
The budget process in kenya has been relatively opened up by allowing parliament by scrutinizing the budget well before the presentation.I think this is an opportunity for groups to begin a serious process of opening the budget process to public scrutiny. Indeed resource allocation and use is at the centre of concrete realization of human rights.
