The transparency of Covid-19 budget use is currently in the spotlight of various parties in order to realize the right use of government budgets. In collaboration with Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) of Pontianak City, Gemawan Institute held a webinar with the theme Budget Transparency in the Midst of Covid-19 Pandemic.
The activity held on Friday (10/7) presenting three (3) guest speakers, they were the Mayor of Pontianak, Edi Rusdi Kamtono, the Head of the Ombudsman Representative for West Kalimantan, Agus Priyadi, and Gemawan Institute representative, Sri Haryanti.
According to Sri Haryanti, this activity aims to help the Pontianak City Government inform the public regarding the details of budget use to handle COVID-19 and to recover regional economy. “The public has the right to know the budget distribution used to deal with Covid-19 pandemic. As we know, the government of Pontianak City has reallocated and refocused the 2020 Regional Budget for the handling of Covid-19, “he said.
According to the social activist who is familiarly called Anti, the public can jointly participate in monitoring and reporting through a complaint channel provided by the government through the representatives of State Institutions such as Ombudsman. “Therefore we invited the Head of West Kalimantan Ombudsman to participate in providing information to the public,” she explained again.
According to the Head of AJI Pontianak, Ramses, it is very important to increase the community participation, including the media, in monitoring the implementation of the budget use for Covid-19 countermeasures. “With Gemawan, we will provide information to the public regarding the budget data allocated and used by Pontianak City Government in handling Covid-19, as well as help Pontianak City Government inform it to the public,” he explained.
He explained that Act No. 14 of 2008 on Freedom of Public Information states that public agencies are required to periodically announce their financial reports. “Hence, through this webinar, we will discuss the budget policies applied by Pontianak City Government,” he said.
This activity targeted participants from Regional Apparatus Organizations, Non-Government Organizations, Student Organizations, as well as Media and Journalists. “We encourage all parties to make efforts to minimize the risk of budget misuse, data asynchronization, and the low supervision by many parties, so that it will realize the budget transparency and accountability for pandemic and post-pandemic countermeasures of Covid-19 in Pontianak City, “said the Director of Gemawan, Laili Khairnur. “This discussion was only an initial step,” she concluded.