BudgIT recently held a one-day Town Hall Meeting in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, in continuation of enhancing citizens’ understanding about the country’s national budget and the Freedom of Information Law.
With funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the day-long initiative is also aimed at ensuring citizens improve their oversight on the budget monitoring for fiscal transparency across the government.
Giving the overview of the gathering, BudgIT Liberia Country Lead, Abraham Varney, highlighted the significance of the engagement and encouraged participants to make use of the knowledge received, as well as use them in engaging stake actors on budget transparency and freedom of information-related issues.
Varney was accompanied by the organization’s Program Officer, Richmond J. Salami; Program Officer, Emmanuel J. Kollie, and the Ministry of Finance Assistant Director for Budget Dissemination and Fiscal Transparency, Carolyn Myers Zoduah.
Others were Amah B. Johnson, Program officer of the Independent Information Commission (IIC) and team, as they were all received by the county’s Superintendent, Thomas David, and other county stakeholders.
Grand Bassa County Superintendent, Thomas Davis, thanked the team for the initiative and disclosed that it was a noble endeavor to engage citizens on issues of such importance, a move he believes will ensure transparency and accountability in government.
He further stated that in previous years, it was abominable to discuss budgetary issues in public, especially amongst non-government officials, and expressed his gratitude towards BudgeIT for the awareness and called on them to continue engaging citizens on such pertinent issues.
The IIC Program Officer, Armah B. Johnson, explained the FOI-Laws to the participants in an interactive style and engaged them from different perspectives, using real life scenarios, legal reliance, and practical examples on the applicability of the FOI-Act.
Meanwhile, Assistant Finance Minister, Carolyn Myers Zoduah, drilled the participants through the 2024-Draft National Budget on a sectorial journey of the draft budget, explaining the rationale behind the allotments and allocations on a sectorial basis.
She further highlighted the role of her department in enhancing fiscal-budgetary transparency and the fiscal transparency board, thus commending BudgIT Liberia and partners for their roles in promoting fiscal transparency through open budget initiatives.
