The Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) has for the second time since 2014 printed a summary of the 2015 budget speech in braille both in Setswana and English.
A release from MFDP stated that this was an effort to make the budget speech accessible and available to all members of the society. In 2014, the ministry printed 25 copies of the annual budget speech in braille in English version and 25 copies in Setswana.
This year, the ministry increased the numbers and printed 50 copies of each. It further said the ministry was committed to this endeavour and would print more copies of the speech in braille in the coming years if resources permitted as this was in line with the Vision 2016 pillars of an informed and educated nation as well as that of compassionate, just and caring nation.
The visually impaired have the right to be informed and educated on how the national budget is allocated and more importantly how it will address their needs, challenges and aspirations, it states.
It says to reach out to people with visual impairment, the ministry collaborates very closely with the Coordinating Office for People with Disabilities (PWDs) at the Office of the President which distributed copies of the 2014 braille version of the budget speech to various tertiary institution and national libraries.
These includes University of Botswana, Limkokwing University, Botho University, BUIST, ABM University College, GIPS, national libraries in main villages and towns, Botswana Council for the Disabled as the mother body for organisations dealing with PWDs and other NGOs offering services to people with visual impairment.
The same channels will be used to distribute the 2015 copies of the budget speech in braille by the Coordinating Office for People with Disabilities at the Office of the President, the release states.
Also, MFDP is mandated with the responsibility to coordinate National Development Planning as well as mobilising and prudently managing available financial and economic resources.
Furthermore, the ministry is responsible for formulation of economic and financial policies for sustainable economic development as well as preparation of annual budget speeches, adding that the budget speech is an essential activity of national importance as it informs the nation on allocation of the national resources in the form of recurrent as well as development budgets for implementation of projects and programmes.
In this connection, it states that the ministry considers it very important that all segments of the society be informed about the budgeting processes and how available resources are distributed
Further, the ministry produces a simplified version of the Speech in English and Setswana called ‘The People’s Guide to the Budget’ for ease of understanding and the ‘Budget in Brief’ which have graphs and tables to cater for hard-core professionals and international audience.
All budget documents mentioned above are available in the ministry website and can be accessed at www.finance.gov.bw.
Source : Ministry of Finance and Development Planning
Source : Botswana Daily News