KIGALI - The first ever "Citizen Alternative Budget” will be ready next week.

A local human rights umbrella body, CLADHO collected, over the last two months, proposals from the population for the national budget, which will be presented to the Ministry of Finance.

The budget gives an opportunity to civil society organisations, professionals, the private sector and the general public to make suggestions for possible incorporation into the forthcoming budget 2011-2012. The project is financed by Norwegian People’s Aid.

Guido Ngamije Kirabo, the chairperson of CLADHO, said that the alternative budget allows citizens to participate in the budget making process, led by the finance ministry.

"Through our budget information programme, we will continue advocating for citizens’ social economic rights over the national budget so that it becomes more effective and proportional to the needs of the communities,” said Ngamije.

"The public hearings have to be aligned with the government priorities framework under EDPRS and vision 2020 as well as the budget framework paper in order to consider people’s needs in the annual budget planning”.
CLADHO expects that 15 to 20 percent of the alternative citizen budget may be incorporated into the final national budget to be presented to parliament in July.

A survey carried out by Public Policy Information Monitoring and Advocacy (PPIMA) indicates that 92 percent of Rwandan rural communities have no idea how the budget affects them, despite booklets published by the Ministry of Finance that contains simplified information about the budget.

Ends