More budget transparency
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China Daily, July 13, 2011
It is better to be late than never. This is the attitude most people hold toward the disclosures by central government departments of their spending on trips overseas, receptions and the procurement and maintenance of motor vehicles.
Despite the requirement by the State Council that they must publish such information by the end of June, only a few departments have done so, and the release of general figures of their spending in the three areas does little to meet the needs for transparency and the expectations of taxpayers.
The central government disclosed its spending in the three areas as 9.47 billion yuan ($1.46 billion) in 2010. But most of its ministries and other departments are still reluctant to follow suit. The message is that talking about government transparency is one thing, but actually putting all its spending in the spotlight is another.
In the push for greater government transparency, it is worth mentioning the recent actions of a lawyer. He has sent e-mails to most of the central government departments requesting full disclosure of their spending in the three areas. The State Council regulation on the disclosure of government information, which took effect on May 1, 2008, has given him the mandate to ask any government department for information that he believes he has the right to know.
What this lawyer says provides food for thought: "What I did is a push from a citizen, I will continue to press them until they publish such information."
The requirements set out by the higher authorities are important, as is the grass-roots appeal. In fact, to some extent, the latter is even more important than the former in this country, where the tradition of relying on clean and honest officials for good governance is deeply rooted.
There has been an increasing number of citizens willing to press hard for the delivery of justice, even if that means bringing a government department to court over seemingly trivial matters, such as the price of a railway ticket. Their stubbornness epitomizes the wakening of the sense of citizenship, which is an important force to finally put the powers in a glass house.
The publication of just general figures for the spending of government departments in the three areas is far from the level of transparency that is needed to keep the country's governance clean.
Only from the publishing of detailed accounts will the citizens know whether the expenditure in the three areas is reasonable. So China still has a long way to go in governing transparency.
The efforts of those who strive for their right to know are indispensable if we are to achieve the transparency the public is entitled to.
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