BY MIRIAM MANGWAYA Majority of Zimbabweans are unfamiliar with the national budgeting process, a survey by the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (Zimcodd) has revealed.
The survey showed that 87% of the population is not privy to the national budget architecture, but the government will go ahead and implement the 2022 budget.
In a localised open budget survey (OBS) which conducted by Zimcodd for the year 2021 to evaluate how government incorporated the public in the budgeting process, only 5.19% of respondents indicated that they had knowledge of the budget strategy paper while 5.58 accessed it.
In a report titled, ‘Does the more things change, the more they remain the same? Budget Transparency analysis-First vs Second Republic in Zimbabwe’ published on Monday, Zimcodd said over half of citizens who participated in the budget formulation process felt that their views were not considered.
“This is a worrisome observation because it indicates that many Zimbabweans do not understand the macro framework that forms the basis of the final budget, hence impeding their participation,” Zimcodd said.
