The Ghana Trade and Livelihood Coalition (GTLC), a Trade and Agriculture Policy Advocacy Organization, has called for the enactment of a legal regime to guide the implementation of Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) across the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies in the country.
According to the policy advocacy group, the implementation process is being delayed at the local government level due to lack of commitment even though there is an existing framework stipulating the implementation of the policy in Ghana captured in the government budget operations manual at the Ministry of Finance.
Therefore, Coordinator of the Ghana Trade and Livelihood Coalition, Mr. Ibrahim Akalbila said the law when instituted should mandate the local assemblies to adequately implement the GRB to ensure equitable distribution of resources to mitigate the impoverishment of the people.
“At the local government level, we don’t see that commitment, we don’t see the process of implementing it taken off, and of course, since it is a process that would help with efficiency and effectiveness of budgets, we take it as very responsible by our government to ensure that they give the right support especially from the top-down to the local government level, so that we ensure that is implemented.
After deliberations which was informed by a study that was conducted by Oxfam, SEND-Ghana and GTLC last year, we came to the conclusion that implementing gender responsive budgeting would require a certain legal regime, rules and a certain guidelines to mandate the local government to be able to do that adequately” he posited.
Mr. Akalbila made these comments in an exclusive interview with THE CUSTODIAN after a day’s consultative conference with Heads of the Planning, Budgeting and Agriculture departments from the Savelugu municipal and Kumbungu district assemblies in Tamale on Wednesday, 7 July, 2021.
The GTLC Coordinator indicated when the technocrats are allowed to pursue the implementation of such a framework at the district assembly devoid of political; then the impact of budgets would be realized to the latter.
