By A Correspondent|THE National Budget Education and Consultation Campaign rolled into Hwange on Monday, but residents say it was more talk than action as Government and Parliament push another round of meetings that do little to fix Zimbabwe’s broken budget process.
The campaign is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion and the Parliament of Zimbabwe. Officials claim it is “aimed at improving public understanding of the National Budget and giving citizens a greater role in contributing to and monitoring the use of public resources.”
Yet the numbers tell a different story. Zimbabwe’s public participation score in the latest Open Budget Survey only rose from 19 to 22 out of 100. Even with budget transparency climbing from 59 to 63 and oversight moving from 48 to 56 since 2021, citizens still have almost no real say in how public money is spent.
“The low public participation score has prompted the campaign,” officials admit, but critics argue the meetings are coming too late and offer too little.
Parliament of Zimbabwe Financial Analyst Ms Ngonidzashe Sibanda defended Parliament’s role, saying: “Our role as Parliament is to provide oversight on how resources are mobilised, budgeted for and disbursed. We also follow up on the implementation of various projects and programmes to ensure that they are within budget. We also check on expenditure by the Executive.”
Residents in Hwange were not convinced. Years of uncompleted projects and missing funds have left many questioning whether that oversight means anything on the ground.
Economic Affairs Directorate official Mr Prosper Rutsito said: “We want to give residents an opportunity to understand how the National Budget is formulated, how public resources are allocated and spent, and how Government financial decisions affect livelihoods and the delivery of public services.”
But for participants, understanding has not translated into power. One participant noted: “I learnt that the National Budget is not only for Government officials or economists. It affects ordinary people like us because it determines how resources are allocated to health, education, roads and other services.”
Another added: “Before this engagement, I did not really understand how the National Budget worked or how citizens could participate. Now I understand that the budget outlines Government priorities and how public funds are going to be used.”
Understanding without influence is the core problem. The Open Budget Survey is described as “an independent, comparative and fact-based assessment of public access to central Government budget information, public participation in budget processes and the role of oversight institutions such as Parliament and national audit offices.” With a score of 22 for participation, Zimbabwe remains far behind on actually letting people shape the budget.
The campaign is “expected to continue with engagements across the country,” but without legal reforms to give citizens binding input, and without fixing corruption and misuse of funds, these meetings risk being just another box-ticking exercise.
