Maravi

Letters To The Post

Magande's budget
By Gerry Muka
Tuesday February 13, 2007 [02:00]

Yes, Magande’s 2007 budget is designed to reduce poverty; the poverty of those lucky to have been appointed to government office by the biggest beneficiary of all, Levy Mwanawasa himself. I am not at all surprised at the budget. It was, after all, prepared by a man who has shamelessly declared there is no poverty in Zambia.

All those pre-budget consultations were nothing but an excuse for Magande and his minions at Ministry of Finance to collect imprest, weren’t they? It is clear that every Zambian politician is as greedy as the next one! Their expensive suits and cars only serve to mask their avarice. Even if you were to throw out every one of those self-centred MPs (Monsters of Parliament) whose first order of business is to demand a salary hike and car loans, and ship in a new lot, there would be more of the same drooling, green-eyed species trying to grab as much of the duty-free benefits as they can.

And Levy would have us believe that he is serious about fighting corruption when the whole budget is designed to line the pockets of his appointees leaving the masses as poor as ever? I hope that Levy has just enough sense of shame to ask Magande to redo the budget, or at least that part of it that deals with State House. Is it just possible that in this whole country of 11-plus million people, this so-called Christian Nation, there is not one person with an honest bone in his make-up that we can trust to run the country? Not one? Poor pitiful us.


http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=22514

Plunderers!
By YAC Abrams
Tuesday February 13, 2007 [02:00]

May I express my shock and disbelief over the revelation made by our Republican President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa of the theft of 36 billion kwacha. Our President means well, it seems. The magnitude of the plunder is too ghastly to contemplate. I believe any well-meaning citizen must have shuddered at the news of such heartless stealing of the public resources. Fellow Zambians, let us pursue this matter aggressively and get to the bottom of the whole scam. It's either we act to bring the culprits to book and stop recurrence of such or end at mere talk and encourage the theft. Let's embrace the unity of purpose in such situations. If we are to fight such magnitude of financial and economic injustices inflicted upon our people by a few selfish individuals, we need to act in accord.

Imagine the pain inflicted on the taxpayer at the revelation of such acts of stealing. What about the donor confidence, can we maintain it in such situations? What about institutions such as Zambia Revenue Authority, who toil day and night to collect revenue towards the national basket? There is a feeling of wasted efforts I believe by the taxman. We want to know over which period this theft relates to, that will help us tie the controlling officers then. Where was the office of the Auditor General, surely?

Labels: 2007 BUDGET, ACCOUNTING

posted by MrK @ 9:05 AM