Budget process and corruption:
3. Where in the budget process does corruption tend to occur?
3.3 Adoption of budget by Parliament 
When - after due discussion with individual Ministries - the Cabinet
has come to an agreement on the budget, it passes from the executive over
to the legislative. Painstaking committee work and a vote-by-vote debate
in the national assembly usually prepares for the final adoption of the
budget by Parliament.
In many - if not most - countries there is, however, little time for scrutiny.
The preparation and adoption of the budget is a considerable amount of
work. Deadlines are set in legal forms and delays will lead to stops in
e.g. civil servant salary payments. When delays occur in the earlier phases,
the great urgency to have the budget adopted in a timely manner will often
lead to a shortened time for legislative scrutiny. Apart from this, in
most countries the legislative debate will often be about geographical
allocations - MPs fighting for a piece of road or a hospital for their
constituency - rather than focusing on uncovering and reporting on possible
cases of corruption.
Parliamentarians may also be on the receiving end of bribery. Special
interest groups, such as a corporation in need of certain new roads, may
secure the votes of parliamentarians through more or less subtle forms
of payment. This may be done to overturn the proposed budget, or to safeguard
an allocation that is in danger of being reversed in the parliamentary
debate.
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Public Financial
Management and Procurement |
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Budget process |
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Revenue administration |
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Fiscal decentralisation |
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Direct budget support |
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Public Expenditure Tracking |
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Procurement |
Query the U4 helpdesk about PFM |
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U4 welcomes any | CONTACT |
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Hannes Hechler
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| RECOMMENDED READING |
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“It is our money. Where is it gone?” is a short documentary, released by the International Budget Partnership, on an initiative, in Mombasa (Kenya) to involve communities directly in monitoring the Constituency Development Fund, a fund managed by Kenyan parliamentarians. Through social audits, communities monitored budgets and held their government accountable for managing the public’s money and meeting the needs of the poor.
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| RELATED U4 PUBLICATIONS |
This U4 Brief assesses how banks facilitate illicit capital flows from developing countries. The shortcomings of the existing regulatory frameworks are discussed, and recommendations are made for donor governments on what can be done to curb the flow of corrupt money out of the developing world. |
