Milupi bemoans 2007 under-expenditure
Milupi bemoans 2007 under-expenditureBy Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Thursday January 10, 2008 [03:00]
Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee chairperson Charles Milupi has said it is a national scandal for K900 billion from last year’s budget to remain unspent. But deputy accountant general, Joel Mwanza, said the huge amount of money from last year’s budget remained unspent due to the tight fiscal policy reforms the government had embarked on.
In an interview, Milupi said there was no justification for not utilising such a huge amount of money when the government had failed to attend to a number of obligations.
“We can’t be ‘patting ourselves on the back’ when about 10 per cent of our budget remains even when we have a lot of development challenges,” Milupi said. “Nine hundred billion is too large to remain unspent. And what that implies is that there is something wrong with our management system or that we are not estimating our budget correctly. Mind you under-expenditure is as bad as over-expenditure.”
Milupi observed that revelations by the Secretary to the Treasury were a clear indication that either the budget planning capacity was not there or that capacity to execute it was missing on the part of the Ministry of Finance and National Planning.
But Mwanza said it was not correct to suggest that the government lacked the capacity to implement its own budget.
He cited some of the reforms as Public Expenditure Management and Financial Accountability (PEMFA) and Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS).
He said officers were afraid of spending money on budgeted projects for fear of the repercussions.
“The situation we have now is that due to the tight and prudent fiscal management policies, the Ministry of Finance and National Planning has started implementing. Controlling officers are now beginning to take a second thought before they get the money meant for their ministries and departments,” Mwanza said.
“Unlike in the past when the officers could get money even when they did not have proper plan for it, so I think we should give credit where due. If you want to say that the government was not doing well because of the huge amount that remained unspent, the question you should be asking yourself is: Which is better; for money to remain unspent or be wasted or get stolen?”
And Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) has stated that failure by the government to spend K900 billion from last year’s budget was a threat to achieving pro-poor national developments.
CSPR acting executive director Ivy Mutwale stated that the failure by the government to spend money on much needed social services threatened to throw the country backwards in achieving pro-poor national development through the Fifth National Development Plan (FNDP) and Millennium Development Goals.
Labels: 2007 BUDGET, CHARLES MILUPI, PAC
posted by MrK @ 4:55 PM
3 Comments:
A few points.
- Charles Milupi is my hero. In fact, he is a national treasure. This man will save the country more money than anyone out there.
- I know a few destinations for that money.
- It is time that the government started to alleviate massive unemployment levels, and started works projects, to upgrade the nation's infrastructure. In the long term, the state would see a return on it's money. They could utilise the chiefs, as well as the national service.
- Agriculture needs to be developed. If I had $10 million, I would take one of those massive estates, and establish hundreds of commercial farms. I think profitability could be achieved very quickly (i.e., within a few years), while at the same time giving hundreds of families a middle class income of US$10,000 per year or more, and adding to national food production.
- Anyway, the government should be much more pro-active, and not be ashamed to learn from the socialist projects that have been shown to work, such as the Great Society, the New Deal and the experiences of the early Soviet Union.
I have followed the man (Charles Milupi) for sometime now. Starting from his days with ZCCM Power Division, then CEC,as an independent MP and Public Accounts Committee chairman. He has realy put the government and controlling officers on their toes. This is what citizens need to show as proof that they served their nations. Can he make a good minister or President without a political party to back him?
I understand the deputy Accountant General's possition but i thought we are following an Activity Based Budgeting (ABB)system!
He has realy put the government and controlling officers on their toes. This is what citizens need to show as proof that they served their nations.
There should be powerful comptrolling functions built into all government projects, as well as to local government and the ministries.
Literally hundreds of millions of dollars per year can be saved by just making sure money doesn't go missing or isn't overspent.
This will ring in a really exciting future for the country.
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