September 3, 2021
Audrey John
The Budget Advocacy Network, (BAN ) with support from Christian Aid yesterday September 2nd launched the scorecard on selected mandatory information disclosure as per the 2016 Public Financial Management Act. The event was convened at the headquarter of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalist in Freetown.
Speaking at the event Senior Program Officer of Christian Aid Chinsia Pasda George congratulated BAN for the remarkable achievement in the strive to promote public financial management in the country.
She said the say marked an important step in achieving some of the objectives in projects Irish Aid through Christian Aid is supporting BAN to plan.
She added that the project is a five year project that started in 2017 which is to end this year 2021 but owing the COVID 19 pandemic there has been an extension to 2022 because there is need to do the project evaluation this year.
She said the angle that the Christian Aid Sierra Leone has been supporting BAN is under the governance thematic area which is in consonance with the Irish Aid Project Aid Grant.
“Under the project we have been supporting BAN to undertake human rights initiatives and improving service delivery,” Chinsia George stated.
She disclosed that gender issues forms a key component of the project and selected ministries have been targeted.
She cited proactive disclosure as key success stories under the project in terms of ensuring participatory budget, transparency and accountability.
Also making remarks was the Deputy Director of Budget Ministry of Finance Dr. Ilara Mahdi. She lauded Christian Aid and Ban for being in partnership with government to ensure that accountability and transparency can thrive in the country.
She promised that they are going to review the scorecard to make effort in improving on areas identified for improved budgetary allocation especially in sectors like health, primary education, water and sanitation.
“We are also looking at improving enhanced transparency and accountability in the budget process to be inclusive where marginalized citizens and those affected one way or the other,” she noted.
She said they are supporting BAN to work with selected MDAs in developing gender sensitive budgeting. This idea is in consonance with the objective of promoting gender equality.
She pointed out that proactive disclosure in selected ministries has improved year by year as a result of this project.
This year has been considered as crucial for revaluation of the projects under the grant beyond the activities of BAN.
This project is consistent with the Public Financial Management Act 2016 that mandates MDAs to proactively disclose their budget performances in the promotion of accountability and transparency.