Open Budget Survey a wakeup call for Fiji Government: CCF

1st February 2013

Open Budget Survey a wakeup call for Government: CCF

CCF maintains its call for government to practice Transparency and Accountability on the back of a poor 2012 Open Budget Survey rating released yesterday.

Authorities on Good Governance ESCAP define Transparency as decisions taken and their enforcement being done in a manner that follows rules and regulations. It also means that information is freely available and directly accessible to those who will be affected by such decisions. This definition includes openness of the decision-making and enforcement processes as well as access to and distribution of information.

The Citizens’ Constitutional Forum reiterates its calls on the Bainimarama government to initiate urgent steps to make public the Auditor General’s reports and reports from the Public Accounts Committee available to the people of Fiji.

The recently released assessment by the Independent Open Budget Survey 2012 (OBS) shows that Fiji scored 6 out of 100. Our index rating, lower even than China’s 11, defines Fiji as providing “scant or no information” to the public in the budget documents.

CCF CEO Rev. Akuila Yabaki says taxpayers remain in the dark on how their money has been spent by the Bainimarama government since 2006. This in itself goes against Pillars 3, 4 and 5 of the Peoples Charter which demands greater transparency and accountability from the government in dealing with public funds.

CCF urges the Bainimarama government to take on board the findings and recommendations of the OBS and allow public access to its financial documents and audits which are currently only for internal use within government bodies.

In the absence of Parliament there’s even greater onus on the part of Government to make this information available as it is a fundamental principle of Good Governance.

The CCF is a non-government organization that educates and advocates for good governance, human rights and multiculturalism in Fiji. We are not aligned with any political party.

ENDS

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