(SUNDAY MAIL ZW) Parly clips Biti’s wings

Parly clips Biti’s wings
Sunday, 14 October 2012 01:28
Kuda Bwititi

Parliament has prescribed a host of new measures ahead of the formula­tion of the 2013 national budget as it seeks to clip Finance Minister Tendai Biti’s wings and ensure the blueprint is people-oriented.

The new measures will also see the Parliamentary Budget Committee undertaking its own pre-budget con­sultations which will run parallel to those traditionally organised by the finance ministry.

The committee’s chairperson and Goromonzi North MP Padding­ton Zhanda (Zanu-PF) said Parlia­ment had come up with the fresh measures to address complaints raised by the general populace last year that its views were not taken on board.

The budget consultations by the committee will start tomorrow with the first meetings set to be held in Marondera and Chinhoyi.

“As part of measures aimed at ensuring that the budget addresses the needs of the people, we have come with a raft of new measures. We want two weeks to carry out consultations and another two weeks of studying the budget when it comes to Parlia­ment,” said Cde Zhanda.

Makoni West MP and member of the same portfolio committee Webber Chinyadza (MDC-T) said Minister Biti had erred in the 2012 budget by coming up with a docu­ment that did not address the needs of the people.

He said last year’s budget was a “secret docu­ment” which was the prerogative of the minis­ter and not the people.

“Inadequate time was given to approve the budget last year. The Public Management and Finance Act now empower us to critically analyse the budget when it comes to Parlia­ment as well as to ensure that people’s views are incorporated.

“The budget in previous years has been a secret document that the Minister would pass.

Now we are looking at each vote in the budget so that each particular is vote is consistent with the views of the nation,” he said.

Mr Chinyadza said the consultations for the budget were already running late.

“We already have a problem in this country in that the budget consultations start just before the paper is presented and some of the issues would have been presented in Cabinet and Ministers would come up with their votes before public consultations begin,” he said.

Mr Zhanda said Ministers should come to Parliament to defend their votes in the budget, amidst revelations that last year’s bids reached US$22 billion, against the US$4 billion purse that was eventually presented.

Mr Zhanda said aligning the budget to IMF recommendations would be unrealistic, as the world monetary body proposes that an average of 30 percent of the national purse should be channelled to government wages.

“Last year we had 70 percent of the national budget going to civil servants salaries so we cannot call for a downward review to 30 per­cent yet the workers are demanding a pay increase.

It is those issues that we should look at in the budget even though we may wish to be in line with international best practices,” he said.

Last year Minister Biti presented a budget of US$4 billion which he later revised downwards to US$3,4 billion.