By Bill W. Cooper
BudgIT Liberia has organized a one-day town hall meeting on the draft 2024 budget and the Freedom of Information Law in Margibi County.
With support from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the meeting which brought together Margibi County administration, CSOs, women groups, youths, and people living with disabilities, was also intended to create awareness and encourage recommendations on the national budget that is currently being debated at the Legislature.
The educative forum was to further ensure that citizens are knowledgeable on ways they can utilize existing laws to demand information and develop a shadow budget that is priority-focused for the growth and development of Liberia, and as well enhance their understanding about the Fiscal Year 2024 draft budget.
However, a citizen-centered/citizen’s priority-budgeting is another approach that the Government of Liberia can use to make appropriations in its budget to respond directly to citizens’ priorities.
This approach emphasizes the need for government resource allocation to be made to support programs or services that improve the lives of citizens, which is achievable through a consultative approach.
Giving the overview, BudgIT Liberia Program Officer, Emmanuel J Kollie, underscored the importance of the meeting as an avenue for participants to express their views on sector-specific projects they believe should be prioritized in the budget, disclosing that the intention was to bridge the gap between citizens and policymakers, ensuring that the budget reflects the needs and aspirations of the people.
Margibi County Inspector, Kpalanay Gbankpala, representing both the participants and the county administration, urged attendees to harness the knowledge gained to demand accountability within the county.
He stressed the significance of citizens’ involvement in the budgetary process, highlighting its historical absence, and thereby expressed gratitude to BudgIT Liberia for imparting this valuable knowledge to the county’s residents.
Meanwhile, a Program Officer from the Independent Information Commission, Armah B. Johnson, led a discussion on the Freedom of Information Law of Liberia, emphasizing to the participants that it is their fundamental right to access information.
