Maravi

JCTR prepares consultative paper for submission to govt

JCTR prepares consultative paper for submission to govt
By Fridah Zinyama
Wed 20 Jan. 2010, 04:00 CAT

THE Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) has taken an initiative to prepare a consultative paper for submission to the Ministry of Finance and Cabinet on the national budget process on input and monitoring.

JCTR’s debt, aid and trade programme assistant Andrew Banda said that JCTR had for a number of years done research and advocacy on the challenges of development including input to the budget and monitoring its effectiveness.

“This year we seek to provide our partners and the general public with a platform to comment and provide recommendations on the challenges that they face in relating to the national budget,” he said.

Banda said Zambia has had a situation where the budget had managed to deliver in some areas but failed significantly in others.

“Although allocations are annually made, the expenditure does not always occur. Funds are misallocated or funds simply fall short. More often than not, the reasons are usually attributed to fiscal indiscipline, poor planning and poor coordination,” he pointed out.

Banda explained that in order to improve budget advocacy, JCTR had prepared a consultative paper which once stakeholders give their input, would be submitted to the ministry of finance.

“This is a process that seeks to enable the budget to be effective and improve the coordination of development efforts by all interested stakeholders. This is to ensure that the scarce resources that Zambia has as a low income country are used to deliver on the urgently required development needs of those that require it the most,” said Banda.

Labels: ANDREW BANDA, JCTR

posted by MrK @ 5:20 AM