PARLIAMENT AND DEMOCRACY - Inter-Parliamentary Union

An effective parliament (I): The national level I 143
Parliament without any involvement of civil society organisations or the
public.’ The new procedure allows these to be involved in an open and
transparent way:
During the pre-budget phase Portfolio Committees consider bids or
sectoral priorities from ministries. The Committees consult with the
public through written submissions and public hearings and then make
recommendations to the ministries. In the second phase, which is the
post-budget phase, the Portfolio Committees analyse the votes of the
ministries they shadow. They also hold consultations with the public,
line ministries and civic organizations in reviewing the proposed
budget figures and programmes.
Where parliament has a more substantial role in pre-budget debate, it is
possible for the distributional impact of the budget on different social groups
to be discussed in a manner that can influence the shape of the budget
package which is eventually presented to parliament. This has happened, for
example with the gender budgeting initiatives already discussed in Chapter 4.
In Uganda, it was a coalition of parliamentarians and extra-parliamentary
groups around gender budgeting which helped effect a change in the law
giving parliament a new role in the early stages of budget formation.
One crucial aspect of the national budget which parliaments in many developing
countries have had great difficulty in exercising any influence over has
been the amount and terms of repayment of loans from international bodies
such as the IMF, which can shape national budgets for a generation. This
important lacuna will be considered in the next chapter.