Premium
Extending Budgetary Participation beyond Budget Pitsos in Botswana
Author(s) -
Botlhale Emmanuel
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
development policy review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.671
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1467-7679
pISSN - 0950-6764
DOI - 10.1111/dpr.12032
Subject(s) - parliament , budget process , political science , complement (music) , process (computing) , budget constraint , public administration , economics , politics , law , computer science , biochemistry , chemistry , complementation , gene , phenotype , neoclassical economics , operating system
Waves of budget reforms are sweeping unremittingly across Africa with an overarching objective of democratising the budgetary process, mainly by increased popular participation. In this connection, Botswana introduced reforms in 2010 in the form of pitsos (opinion‐gathering meetings) to enable citizens to participate more in the budget. This article attempts to answer the question, ‘Are pitsos enough to enhance budgetary participation?’. Relying on both primary and secondary sources, the answer is in the negative. Even though the pitsos can enhance participation, there is a need for thoroughgoing reforms, for example a Budget Act and a strong Parliament, to complement them.