Challenges of Public Participation in the National and County Budget Process Jason Lakin, Ph.D., Country Manager, IBP Kenya

Challenges of Public Participation in the

National and County Budget Process

Jason Lakin, Ph.D., Country Manager, IBP Kenya

The New Public Finance is About DialogueThe New Public Finance is About Dialogue

• Kenya’s 2010 constitution reconstituted the budget process as a long conversation

• Starts in January with the Division of Revenue (how much for each level of government?)

• In February, we debate the ceilings by sector (how much for each sector?)

• In May, we debate the priorities within each sector (how much for programmes, etc.?)

• In June, we finalize the agreement

That is six months of talking! And then….

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We keep talking!We keep talking!• Finance bill (revenues) starts in June, can run to end

September• Discussions within sectors at both national and

county level that lead into the BPS (February)• Counties required to constitute a County Budget and

Economic Forum to facilitate conversation with the public on all plans and budgets

• Also discussing budget implementation• So…we are basically meant to be talking all the

time


The Good NewsThe Good News

• We are getting more and better information (NT posted budget online this year)

• Counties have introduced public hearings of some kind for most major budget documents

• Increasing public discussion and debate about COB and audit reports

• Growing public awareness of how money is used (development spending v. foreign trips)


But many challenges to a good conversationBut many challenges to a good conversation

• Vague purposes• Common language• Key information• Consistent arguments• Listening/responding


Challenge 1: What are we talking Challenge 1: What are we talking about?about?• Last year, the courts threw out the Kiambu Finance Act

because they said it did not meet the minimum threshold for participation

• The judge highlighted two failures by the government:• First, the advert calling for the meeting did not give a clear

purpose so people may not have attended or if they did, prepared themselves adequately for the topic

• Second, the notice given (newspaper advert 3 days in advance) was deemed inadequate

• These are basic things, but we know most counties are not meeting them


Challenges go beyond countiesChallenges go beyond counties

• Sector hearings appear to have clear purposes, but is usually unclear what the public can really contribute in these meetings or how

• National also provides inadequate time (last Senate hearing on DOR was announced only 1-2 days before)


Challenge 2: Common Language Challenge 2: Common Language

Consider Programme-Based Budgets•Improving, but still form over substance•Narrative is not linked to allocations•Programmes do not have clear objectives; subprogrammes do not have any•Programmes are meant to focus on outputs, but many are thin veils over “recurrent/capital” input split•Not disaggregated sufficiently or aligned with line-item budgets for clarity about spending•Poor presentation=lack of common understanding


Challenge 3: Key InformationChallenge 3: Key InformationWe cannot hide critical information and still have meaningful discussions•Example I: State corporations receive over Ksh 350 billion from the budget (2012/13)•Previously, there was an Annex on state corporations tabled with the budget•Never comprehensive, but no longer available; SCs also don’t feature in PBB•Difficult to get state corporation annual reports and financial statements to understand their budgets and the fiscal risks they pose•Concern as counties move to set up county state corporations


More Key Information MissingMore Key Information Missing

• Budget discussion doesn’t start and end with formulation

• Budget implementation reports are critical for review and input into next year’s allocations

• PFMA requires counties to produce and publish quarterly reports within 30 days of end of quarter, yet they are not

• COB is producing some, but not consistent across counties, not timely


Challenge 4: Consistent ArgumentsChallenge 4: Consistent ArgumentsWe cannot discuss with people that keep changing their positions

•Budget process expects ceilings to be set in March by National and County Assembly

•Then proceed to discuss within sector priorities

•Yet Assemblies are not respecting ceilings; some CFSPs did not even include ceilings

•Even Treasury broke ceilings and then Parliament, instead of restoring, accepted (e.g., Ministry of Health) and further increased; narrative doesn’t match figures

•Budget Committee did not follow its own report on issue of L5 hospital grant


Challenge 5: Listening and respondingChallenge 5: Listening and responding

When we ask people for their views, we have to listen and respond•Few forums with advance notice or data; sometimes no data even at the forum•Too little time for public inputs and discussion•There are few documents at national or county level that acknowledge inputs and how these were used•MPs used to describe in detail feedback they received, but no longer (9 counties visited, but only general feedback: “concerns” about security, agriculture); Nyeri Assembly had annex of submissions received


Emerging Concerns: The Death of Emerging Concerns: The Death of LASDAPLASDAP

• Devolution usually means taking power down, but counties are larger than Local Authorities so some things have moved up

• Includes participation, which used to happen through LASDAP at ward and LA level

• LASDAP lost, not replaced by anything• LASDAP had many failings but had clear purposes

(vote on development projects)• Where it was more successful it reached below the

ward level, mobilizing citizens at location/village


How do we organize the public to participate?• Given size of counties, how do we structure participation

below the county level?

• This is not a problem for government/legislation alone to solve; citizens also need to figure out how to organize themselves (by sector? By geography?) to interact with government

• If consultations are at county or ward level, transport becomes an issue and a culture of paying for participation emerges

• Holding forums at village level has lower unit costs, but there are many villages


Thank youThank you

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www.facebook.com/internationalbudgetkenya

@IBP_Kenya


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Documents

Challenges of Public Participation in the National and County Budget Process Jason Lakin, Ph.D., Country Manager, IBP Kenya