Luanda - Three hundred and 28 million kwanzas have been made available by the Executive to municipal administrations for the listening process within the framework of the Participatory Budget, underway in the country, the Secretary of State for Local Authorities, Márcio Daniel said Thursday in Luanda.
The official, who closed the launching ceremony of the third edition of the Forum for the Collection of Contributions to the Participatory Budget, said that each of the 164 municipal administrations received 2 million kwanzas.
"The Government thus complies with what is laid down in the legislation, in Presidential Decree no. 234/19, of 22 July, on the local context, ensuring, with these amounts, challenges such as transport and food for those consulted," he stressed.
In turn, the executive director of the Angolan Institute of Electoral and Democratic Systems (IASED), Luís Jimbo, said that 90 per cent of the municipalities have already held the consultation sessions for the Participatory Budget, of which 70 per cent are at the stage of choosing priorities.
The resident representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Soahangy Mamisoa Rangers, said that the Participatory Budgeting Contribution Collection Forum was one of the mechanisms created to advance participatory governance.
He emphasised that the forum is an important stage in Participatory Budgeting, with the aim of giving citizens from all over the country the opportunity to share their needs and priorities.
"It also allows administrations and other local authorities to get to know their residents better, identify their needs, plan their budgets and draw up development plans," he said.
UNDP figures indicate that in 2021 the Participatory Budgeting process received the contribution of 10,331 citizens from the country's 164 municipalities, where the areas of health, education, energy and housing were prioritised.
Approved by Presidential Decree 234/19, of 22 July, the Participatory Budget is a tool that the Angolan Government has adopted in the process of deconcentration and administrative decentralisation to make citizens more participatory in drawing up and implementing the budget.
The law enshrines the active participation of members of management committees, made up of representatives of civil society with the capacity to identify problems and define priorities in drawing up municipal budgets.
Representatives of political parties, MPs, national directors, municipal, district and commune administrators and members of civil society associations took part in the launch of the 3rd edition of the Forum for Collecting Contributions for Participatory Budgeting.
ML/AC/DAN/DOJ
