By Laurina B Lormia
(Cub-Reporter)
The Open Government Partnership with support from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and funding from the Governments of Luxemburg and Korea has embarked on a two-day training workshop for media professionals enhancing their reportorial capacity financial transparency and budgetary accountability.
The training workshop was held in Monrovia at iCampus, from April 18-19, under the banner, ‘Space for Political Participation and Advocacy for Responsive Governance Enhanced,’ also targets getting journalists acquainted with technical knowledge on public finance management in order to have citizens getting the basics of education concerning decisions that are made.
The initiative which is climaxing today in Monrovia, basically intended to develop and strengthen the capacity of journalists on budget formulation and performance with the focus of analyzing, the impact and implementation of the budget and its effectiveness and workability on the lives of the ordinary Liberian.
It aims at education participants on allocation allotment, and the Public Financial Management Law, International Monetary Funds and other international instruments for improving open governance and financial fiscal transparency and accountability.
Speaking at the training, head of the Secretariat, G. Ralph Jimmeh, said the project will be tracking performance, and allocation made to four strategies sectors that align with the government of Liberia ARREST Agenda, and how the allocation is performing over the one-year period.
“Under this project, basically, we are going to be looking at three areas, because the budget is a huge document, we will not be looking at every sector. The four sectors are parts of President Joseph Boakai ARREST Agenda, which includes the rule of law, education, agriculture, health, sanitation and tourism,” he noted.
According to him, the training will enable participating journalists work with the Legislature going forward so that they can adequately track the different budget lines and their implementation.
‘’At the end of this, we expect that you as a journalist will be able to tell between both the legislature and the place the monies are going to be sent. We are grateful to have you and we look forward to your full participation. Not just sitting and knowing how the budget is being formulated and how it’s being implemented but to become the voice because you have the confidence of the citizens,’’ he added.
Meanwhile, the legislature are the ones who are responsible for the budget, which is considered there in the Liberian setting, therefore, the project is designed to give media practitioners the understanding as to how the national budget is drafted and implemented.
He concluded, you and I are aware that the legislature is the first branch of government. And as that first branch of government, one of the things we look out for is for it to have a very open, transparent and responsive legislature. Because as long as you have that branch of government being open and transparent, the legislature growth and development of the country will be on the right trajectory.
