The Daily Observer (Banjul)
Saihou Sanyang
14 March 2008
opinion
Democratic good governance, in as far as sound economic management is concerned, derives its ethos from and concerns itself with critical things in the allocation and employment of scarce public resources as follows:
Fiscal discipline
Fiscal discipline is mainly concerned with the stabilizing function of macroeconomic fundamentals wherein the capable state seeks to pursue policies that underpin balanced growth and allow for free enterprise to flourish (perfect competition as opposed to monopoly) alongside a consumer society whose welfare is maximized. In order to ensure stability, government budgets should adhere to high fiscal discipline which requires that government spending is planned and implemented in such a way that spending and taxing levels are affordable. Of the three items of the budget, fiscal discipline mostly refers to the deficit and it's financing. High levels of borrowing to finance the budget deficit means higher debt service in future years and less spending on priority areas like poverty reduction (alleviation). High deficits may lead to spiralling (run away) inflation and therefore, comprise price level stability.
On the other hand, low levels of government spending constrain economic growth which leads to higher unemployment with great potential for national instability and insecurity.
Adherence to fiscal discipline is indicated by how much government intends to borrow and where the money should be spent on the development/capital budget where future returns are expected to exceed the interest payments.
Because government allocates resources by spending public funds for supplying public goods and services along pre-determined priority area, it follows that in a democratic and decentralised good governance framework, this is predicated on the ABSOLUTE need for bottom-up development needs identification, programme planning and budgeting (which, on a cumulative basis should inform and constitute the national development plan).
The rationale for this is to maximize the economic and social returns to the allocation of scarce public resources to a particular policy and/or programme. The strategic allocation of resources to priority areas is, ipso facto, a core element of the government budget allocative efficiency indicator especially that, inter-alia, it seeks to answer the threshold question as to whether or not the country generates good value for its resources and therefore strategic budget allocation should result in higher degree of consistency between stated government priorities and resource allocation overtime.
This is important to note because for strategic allocations to be efficient, they have to be needs based reflecting real people issues based on a comparative analysis of priorities. Generally, the rule of thumb when making strategic allocations is to spend mostly on public goods and services which include, but are not limited to:
• National security.
• Roads, bridges.
• Schools.
• Public hospitals, clinics.
• The environment.
The rationale for this is to provide for welfare maximizing allocation efficiency such that service delivery is achieved when the country delivers key public goods and services effectively and efficiently. This implies that budget resources should be delivered to spending units in a timely, reliable and predictable manner. This is best attained through stability and sustainability of the country's macroeconomic framework and actual budget outcomes and their consistency with official projections.
Government economic management policies should always provide for an enabling environment for private sector-led growth, job creation and income generation which entails involvement of the private sector in policy development that affects them such that this provides for the requisite framework for the public and private sectors to constitute effective development partners with effective collaboration and coordination mechanisms. It is also important that the tax system is always equitable, accountable and efficiently managed by minimizing tax evasion, curbing bribery and corruption, ensuring and enforcing transparency and encouraging local and foreign direct investment in all sectors to provide for business development.
It is imperative that civil society organisations (CSOs) independence is guaranteed in matters of conflict prevention, management and resolution to enhance their effective contribution to ensuring promotion and application of transparency and accountability by both government and NGOs. Equally, the independent mass media (print, electronic, theatre, folklore etc.) should operate within a free and independent environment. However, the media needs to be objective, responsible and balanced in its reporting. It is also important that media reports and/or allegations of corruption, mismanagement and fraud are always promptly and thoroughly acted on and those found wanting brought to book.
The Office of the Ombudsman (Public Protector) and its operations must be independent of the executive arm of government as well as other actors and it must regularly report to the legislature.
From the forgone, it is easily discernible that democratic good governance both as a frame work and driver of and for poverty reduction and sustainable development is indeed a long term participatory development process that requires commitment, nurturing, safeguarding and up-holding.
For example, the elements of achieving mutual understanding, agreement and action constitute the participatory and consensus building processes and ethos in which participation, by both gender becomes an important pillar in ensuring democratic good governance drawing strength and legitimacy from an informed, enlightened, active and organized citizenry. Such participation is underpinned by the principle of empowerment in relation to concrete issues. For example, participation underlain by this principle can range from communities partaking in needs identification, prioritization, planning, budgeting, implementation, management, monitoring and evaluation (using both formal and informal indicators), resource mobilization and auditing to ensure accountability and transparency to choosing between service providers, community co-production i.e. direct financing of water user-groups, the way decisions are made and who exercises authority over what issues, how planning processes feed decisions through both positive a
nd negative feedback loops (integers) and how those who make decisions and implement them are held downwardly accountable. Within such a framework, there can be three alternative configurations to community empowerment and participation.
Context
The context of the piece must be seen against the backdrop that Africa enters the 21st Century not only faced with the challenges for striving for attaining, consolidating and sustaining democratic and decentralised good governance, but also with issues of pervasive and increasing poverty.
While both have devastating and crippling effects on particularly human beings, the economy and environment, rising to the challenges of democratic and decentralised good governance within the capable and accountable African State has taken centre stage in our convergent efforts for attaining sustainable human and economic development.
Importantly, effectively rising to the challenges of poverty requires the sustained use of democratic, decentralised good governance levers which empower individuals and collectivities to directly and/or indirectly participate in political, administrative, cultural, economic and systemic governance policy and development issues, decision making processes and programmes.
This requires the provision of adequate democratic space, in an effectively devolved manner, to municipalities and other decentralised structures in line with the fundamental principle of subsidiarity as well as enhancing the capacities of both central and decentralised authorities and institutions to partner with the private sector in the delivery of accessible, affordable and quality public goods and services.
However, formulating decentralised good governance policies and implementing, managing, sustaining and monitoring of the attendant programmes, activities, structures, systems, processes, procedures and power relationships in the capable and accountable African Sate defined here as one with the requisite enabling political and legal environments for promotion and maintenance of sustainable development and one which equally builds enabling policy and operational environments for the participation of the private and informal sectors to constitute the engines of socio-economic growth through the creation of jobs and income, is one of the most fundamental challenges in Africa today.
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