Some loopholes that need urgent stopgaps

The Guangzhou government has for the first time made its annual budget public. It is more than a welcome move toward making allotment and use of government funds transparent. In the short run, however, most of the local governments in the country are not likely to follow the Guangzhou example, said Sun Yueli, a lawyer based in Tianchang, in Anhui province.

So what effect has it had? The posting of its budget online by the Guangzhou government can be termed either a unique or a "rash" move (depending on how one looks at it) compared with most local governments' decisions. Shanghai, for example, refused to make its budget public, claiming it was a "State secret".

The general stance of local governments is still to use the "State secret" ploy to keep the budget from the public. This prevents not only ordinary citizens, but also many deputies to local people's congresses from knowing what is in the budgets - something that is contrary to the Communist Party of China's fundamental principle that the people are the masters of the country.

When taxpayers don't even know what their money will be spent on, how can they be certain it would be (or is being) spent for the right purpose? Or, how can they be convinced the money would be spent carefully and economically, and not wasted or embezzled?

Since the Budget Law gives only principles, not provisions, for public participation, it will not make local governments share their budget information with the people. And hence, amendment to the law alone can guarantee great changes, Sun said.

The voice for making governments' spending transparent is still weak. The reason: Most media outlets maintain silence on politically sensitive issues and governments, and left to themselves, they are least likely to reform their budget process, he said.

For all practical purposes, public scrutiny of government budgets is a mere formality, because most of the deputies to people's congresses take their role as part-time jobs. Even the National People's Congress' (NPC) annual session lasts for only 10 odd days - too short for deputies to thoroughly examine the central government's budget and accounts.

If NPC deputies had special funds allocated to them to execute their work, they could have been more active to amplify people's voices in the administration, including putting governments' budgets under public scrutiny.

(China Daily 02/08/2010 page9)