Stakeholders engagement practices in the public budget preparation process; a case study of the Sekondi Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly
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Date
2021-06-23
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Abstract
Stakeholders’ Engagement has become an important part of public service at both the
national and the local levels. In public financial management, regular stakeholders’
engagement seen as a measure of transparency and accountability. To guarantee citizens
ownership of budgets and to obtain their support during implementation, stakeholders’
engagement during the budget preparation stage considers an important practice.
Ghana’s budgeting system require citizens’ participation and engagement during the
budget preparation process. District Assemblies are require by existing legal framework,
manuals, and guidelines to engage a number of internal and external stakeholders in the
preparation of a District Budget. As to whether this important requirement is adhered to
during budget preparation was the focus of this study. The study was on the topic;
Stakeholders Engagement Practises in The Public Budget Preparation Process in The
Sekondi Takoradi Metropolis. The study adopted questionnaires and interview as the data
collection instruments and qualitative method was used to analyze collected data. Given
that budgets are managed in cycles, a case study research design was adopted to allow
detail study of budget management issues. Data was collected from both primary and
secondary data sources. Purposive Sampling Technique was adopted to select
respondents who have the experience and participation in the metropolis. The study
results show that stakeholders’ engagement in the metropolis is centered around the
heads of departments and the technical offices as compared to the people budgets seek
to develop. Stakeholders’ engagement is not based on proper planning; staff of the
Budget Office do not have the right capacity to engage. Stakeholders’ identification is
centered on stakeholders relevant to local revenue mobilization. This is leaving out a
significant number of stakeholders needed to enrich our budgets. The community level
structures needed to engage are not established. Zonal Councils and Units Committees
are not established to facilitate engagement. For a budget to be accepted by the people,
the preparation process of that budget need to be more engaging than it is now
Description
A thesis submitted to the Department of Construction Technology and Management, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Award Degree of Master of Science in Project Management.
Keywords
Stakeholders, Engagement, Municipal Assembly, Budget Preparation