Penplusbytes Campaigns for Public Input into the 2017 Budget Statement and Economic Policy

Penplusbytes’ “Producing a citizens’ budget for Ghana” project is inviting individuals, recognized professional bodies, associations and civil society organizations to input their ideas and contributions into the formulation of the 2017 Budget Statement and Economic Policy.

This campaign comes in direct response to MoFEP’s call for contributions that may be considered during the budget formulation process and is aimed at increasing public awareness and promoting greater participation in the process.

The coalition of citizens input is an annual affair which gives citizens an opportunity to get their inputs captured by completing an online form via http://ow.ly/XiXd301ePvR. The call for inputs which ends on the 26^th of June, 2016 allows some more inputs to be made by SMS /WhatsApp complete with the contributors name, number, email address and occupation/profession to 0244373654. The information will be compiled and sent with these details to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Policy (MoFEP) before Monday, 4^th July, 2016.

The ministry stated in its wider call that 2016 being an election year, a three months estimates in advance of appropriation will be laid before Parliament by the end of November, 2016 ahead of preparation and presentation of a draft Budget statement and Economic Policy in the first quarter of 2017.

According to Kwami Ahiabenu, II, Executive Director of Penplusbytes, the organisation, has a simple yet defining mission of promoting effective governance by deploying ICTs to enhance participation. “Our core interest is to facilitate public participation, provoke debate around the national budget and help shape public policy and this, we have stayed committed to since our first involvement”, he said.

This window of opportunity allows Penplusbytes to leverage various tools to promote civil society participation at all stages of the national budget preparation and implementation thereby strengthening Ghana’s democracy and accountability expected from Government.


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Penplusbytes is a not-for-profit organization driving change through innovations in three key areas: using new digital technologies to enable good governance and accountability, new media and innovations, and driving oversight for effective utilisation of mining, oil and gas revenue and resources.