Searchlight Logo
special_image

    • News
      • Front Page
      • News
      • Breaking News
      • Press Release
      • Features
      • Special Features
      • From the Courts
      • Sports
      • Regional / World
    • Opinions
      • Editorial
      • Our Readers’ Opinions
      • Bassy – Love Vine
      • Dr. Fraser- Point of View
      • R. Rose – Eye of the Needle
      • On Target
      • Dr Jozelle Miller
      • The World Around Us
      • Random Thoughts
    • Advice
      • Kitchen Corner
      • What’s on Fleek this week
      • Health Wise
      • Physician’s Weekly
      • Business Buzz
      • Hey Rosie!
      • Prime the pump
    • ePaper
    • Obituaries
      • In Memoriam / Acknowledgement
      • Tribute
    • Contact Us
      • Advertise With Us
      • Letters To The Editor
      • General Contact Information
      • Contact our Webmaster
    • About Us
      • Privacy Policy
      • Interactive Media Ltd
      • St. Vincent & the Grenadines
    • Subscribe
    • News
      • Front Page
      • News
      • Breaking News
      • Press Release
      • Features
      • Special Features
      • From the Courts
      • Sports
      • Regional / World
    • Opinions
      • Editorial
      • Our Readers’ Opinions
      • Bassy – Love Vine
      • Dr. Fraser- Point of View
      • R. Rose – Eye of the Needle
      • On Target
      • Dr Jozelle Miller
      • The World Around Us
      • Random Thoughts
    • Advice
      • Kitchen Corner
      • What’s on Fleek this week
      • Health Wise
      • Physician’s Weekly
      • Business Buzz
      • Hey Rosie!
      • Prime the pump
    • ePaper
    • Obituaries
      • In Memoriam / Acknowledgement
      • Tribute
    • Contact Us
      • Advertise With Us
      • Letters To The Editor
      • General Contact Information
      • Contact our Webmaster
    • About Us
      • Privacy Policy
      • Interactive Media Ltd
      • St. Vincent & the Grenadines
    • Subscribe
Round Table with Oscar
January 15, 2013

Social budgeting

Let us look into this question that is disturbing me; this is it: to whom does the “budget debate” belong? Every year, we have this show. The Ministry of Finance pulls together a loose project document for the year and the minister presents this budget in the House of Assembly.{{more}}

The governing members of parliament defend it and vote for it; the opposing members of parliament attack it with touches of drama, they vote against it and it is passed by the assembly. The show fades out gradually, the document goes out of sight behind ministerial barricades and the political party festival or “test match” is over. The question is still lingering in the air: whose budget debate was that? What kind of nation/ society can we develop if we use this annual debate as our management tool? Has SVG become a public speaking lotto, a courtroom where the judge, jury and defending advocates are one and the same group?

Is it not more reasonable to approach our national project management through a process of consultation among diverse interests determined to employ negotiation, persuasion and agreement to disagree on principled grounds; so that all can share in producing the consent that moves the nation ever onwards? Is our parliament – that slaughterhouse of principled positions – the forum for crafting a project that belongs to the whole nation? How do we move away from a partisan budget, to a People’s budget or a societal budget. Certainly not by the parliamentary budget debate that we now are having.

A PEOPLE’S BUDGET PILOT

In 1981, 1982, the People’s Revolutionary Government (PRG) in Grenada had no parliament to debate their budget. The government used a consultation process. This is what they reported in 1982.

“The most fundamental and far-reaching of these National consultations has been the 1981 Budget Plan process in which, for the first time in the history of the Commonwealth, the people were directly involved in the preparation of the Budget Plan of their country.

Over 80 per cent of the adult population actively participated in the formulation of the national budget through the National Conference of the Economy, zonal and parish councils and general meetings and branch meetings of the trade union movement….”

I myself attended one of the budget planning sessions in Grenada. There were about 500 persons, each with a copy of the budget draft and summary of the National Economic Plan. We received a presentation from Planning Minister Bernard Coard and then the discussion took place in interest groups and then in plenary. It was close to a revolutionary reversal of the normal planning process that governments use. It is worth building on. Once or twice, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Gonsalves did take a small team of officials into selected zones of our country to receive input from citizens to be considered for the budget. At present, though, group consultations occur on a smaller scale, generally in Cabinet room – a pitiful concession. There were also occasions when the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (CIC) took the initiative and prepared and presented its own budget concerns to the Minister of Finance.

A SOCIETAL BUDGET

In preparing the state budget, the Minister of Finance looks over his shoulders ever so often to see what games the World Bank, the IMF, and other “rating” agencies that give grades to our economy are playing. These outside forces can dictate the measure of our state budget more than we the citizens and workers can. That is why we need to consider a “society based budget”, as well as, or rather than a “state based budget” and development plan. There are many needs and resources that the state does not touch. For example, let us say that our 20,000 acres of agricultural land is worth $500 million even without crop cover, the minister of finance and the ministry of agriculture do not have the authority or the interest or the capacity to design and manage that resource for our society’s development. What we need is a societal budget and process with a richer, broader and differentiated scope. And what about managing our untapped “social capital”; those community virtues and bondings that can bring about change even where finance capital is scarce? No budget debate in the House of Assembly can mobilize and harness community bonding and virtue. It destroys it. “Our” budget debate does not belong to us as citizens who want progress in SVG. Check it out.

  • FacebookComments
  • ALSO IN THE NEWS
    Villa woman in  hospital after being stabbed over 20 times
    Front Page
    Villa woman in hospital after being stabbed over 20 times
    Webmaster 
    September 9, 2025
    Police are said to be carrying out investigations into the stabbing of Rafia Sardine, a 20-year-old female of Villa. Reports are that Sardine, a FLOW ...
    RSVGPF most hacked of gov’t agencies
    Front Page
    RSVGPF most hacked of gov’t agencies
    Webmaster 
    September 9, 2025
    In St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), an analysis has found that the most hacked government entity was the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Polic...
    Event staged locally to mark Africa/ Caricom Day
    Front Page
    Event staged locally to mark Africa/ Caricom Day
    Webmaster 
    September 9, 2025
    Leaders of Governments and institutions from countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and the continent of Africa, gathered at the weekend for ...
    PM, proud of his constituents
    Front Page
    PM, proud of his constituents
    Webmaster 
    September 9, 2025
    Prime Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, is proud of the persons in his constituency who continue to aim for higher education. Dr Gonsalves is the parliame...
    Van conductor to be sentenced for beating pregnant ex-girlfriend
    Front Page
    Van conductor to be sentenced for beating pregnant ex-girlfriend
    Webmaster 
    September 9, 2025
    A van conductor, who beat his five- months pregnant ex-girlfriend after she refused to get back with him, has been remanded pending sentencing. Onez J...
    King selected again for the ULP in West St George
    News
    King selected again for the ULP in West St George
    Webmaster 
    September 9, 2025
    To the haunting timeless reggae melody of Jimmy Cliff’s classic ‘Journey’, Curtis King, who was selected as the candidate for the Unity Labour Party (...
    News
    King selected again for the ULP in West St George
    News
    King selected again for the ULP in West St George
    Webmaster 
    September 9, 2025
    To the haunting timeless reggae melody of Jimmy Cliff’s classic ‘Journey’, Curtis King, who was selected as the candidate for the Unity Labour Party (...
    Steel wielding Lowman’s Hill man to be sentenced tomorrow
    From the Courts, News
    Steel wielding Lowman’s Hill man to be sentenced tomorrow
    Webmaster 
    September 9, 2025
    A Lowman’s Hill man who struck another villager in his head with a piece of steel will know his fate tomorrow, September 10, 2025. Kevin Roberts, 25, ...
    Minister of Information Technology  emphasises the importance of Cybersecurity
    News
    Minister of Information Technology emphasises the importance of Cybersecurity
    Webmaster 
    September 5, 2025
    Robust cybersecurity must be at the heart of the digital transformation that is currently taking place in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) says Min...
    Entities team up to boost disaster communication capacity
    News
    Entities team up to boost disaster communication capacity
    Webmaster 
    September 5, 2025
    The Climate Change Resilience Network (CCRN) in collaboration with the Youlou Radio Movement (YRM) recently embarked on a disaster preparedness initia...
    Ministry of Health to get more dialysis machines
    News
    Ministry of Health to get more dialysis machines
    Webmaster 
    September 5, 2025
    The Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment, is to obtain three more Heamodialysis machines as part of the revolution in the healthcare secto...

    E-EDITION
    ePaper
    google_play
    app_store
    Subscribe Now
    • Interactive Media Ltd. • P.O. Box 152 • Kingstown • St. Vincent and the Grenadines • Phone: 784-456-1558 © Copyright Interactive Media Ltd.. All rights reserved.
    We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok