Rupiah has hijacked national budget, charges Beene

Rupiah has hijacked national budget, charges Beene
By Mutale Kapekele
Mon 04 Jan. 2010, 04:01 CAT

PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda has hijacked the national budget and is disturbing development plans, Itezhi-tezhi member of parliament Godfrey Beene has charged.

In an interview on Thursday, Beene said it was disturbing that President Banda impulsively instructed the Minister of Finance to divert development funds to projects that were not planned for.

“President Banda should understand that when we make the national budget, it’s because we want to take development to all parts of the country,” Beene said. “It is very disappointing that the executive has hijacked the budget and parliament is just a rubber stamp.

For instance, the RDA (Road Development Agency) has its work plan but he (Banda) demanded that they work on the road (Chipata-Mfuwe) that was not even on the budget. He did the same in Western Province by committing additional funds to the Mongu-Kalabo road project just because he has been ditched there. In Kasama it was the same story.”

He said President Banda should respect the plans of the nation and the national budget.

“We want the whole country to receive their share of the national cake, that is why we plan every year,” Beene said. “But how do we develop and implement our plans when one person can just wake up and committee so much money to unplanned projects? The President should respect the plans of this nation. He should respect our national budget.”

He said the Itezhi-tezhi power station project had been talked about since the first Republic and yet nothing had been done so far.

“The UNIP government spent more than US $200 million on building infrastructure for the Itezhi-tezhi power station and ever since the MMD came into power, they have been saying they will finish the project but nothing has been done till today,” said Beene.

“And now someone can ask for so much money to build roads in a small game park. What they should be looking at is the Kafue National Park which is one of the largest in Africa. The roads there are pathetic and the rehabilitation works have stalled.”