Sunday, January 31, 2016
Kabul (BNA) Following the budget approval by the parliament, the president has ordered the Ministry of Finance that hereafter the ordinary and development budgets should be directly and regularly transferred to the provinces.
With the starts of such process, decades of centralization in the budget would be ended in the country. President Ghani is his most recent remarks to governors of different provinces, particularly the western provinces, stressed that the Ministry of Finance is obliged to make a plan and immediately transfer the provincial budgets into their accounts. The president added that delay in the implementation of such plans are unacceptable to him and he also informed the provincial officials on holding of a meeting of governors in one of the provinces of the country in the coming year, adding the meeting will be focused mainly on the important provincial issues. The president also briefed the governors about the government’s plan to establish an economic zones in one of the provinces, adding that it is supposed to be established in Herat airport. Mohammad Asif Nang, Farah provincial governor stated that if the governors find authority in the budget spending, the projects’ effectiveness will increase and in coordination with provincial council and other organs, the uplift projects would be prioritized to be carried out. At the same time, a number of MPs and experts called the implementation of this plan important for addressing the challenges and problems in the country, saying the implementation of uplift projects in the provinces would provide facilities to the local residents. MP Hashemi believes that the government should be more careful in implementing the plan and the programs must be carried out in coordination with the central government to prevent corruption and provincial governors should be accountable to the president in consuming of their budgets. Jamal Haidari, an economic expert and professor in one of the private universities, says the transfer of each province’s budgets is a good action, but if there should be transparency in the process and governors should be committed to president that they will consume the budget transparently and fairly in the respective sectors. A number of our citizens came from provinces to Kabul due to lack of job opportunities and other problems, saying that their provinces have many problems, which according to them the only ones who can address their problems, are the local officials. In recent years one of the main issues of the government with the country’s parliament was, the unfair and imbalanced provincial budget, which times and again has been rejected by the lower house, and now it is hoped that in the new fiscal budget of 1395 solar year, such problem has been solved.
Suraya
