What Parliament said about Ncube’s 2019 budget

2.3           Budget Information

2.3.1   The committee Calls upon Treasury to work towards improving budget information. Total Revenue including retained revenue is given as US$ 6.5982 billion in the Budget Statement (page 37) whilst this is US$6.617 billion in the Bluebook (page 9).Total Expenditure and Net Lending is shown as US$8. 164.3 billion in the Budget Statement (page 38) whilst in the Bluebook (page 9), it is given as U$8.172.3 billion. Thus, the budget deficit is US$1.566.1 billion according to the Budget Statement (page 38), but in the Bluebook (page 9), it is lower at US$1.555.3 billion leading to a net difference of about US$10.8 million.  These problems of budget information inconsistencies were flagged out in the 2018 budget and have been repeated in the 2019 budget. Extra care is thus needed when preparing the budget to ensure consistency and credibility of the information presented.

2.4           Parliament Allocation

2.4.1   Parliament was allocated $101 million constituting about 1,47% of the budget against a request of $163 million. The allocation to Parliament has been on an increasing trend, from $39.7 m in 2017, $80m in 2018 to $101m in 2019 (26% increase). While the Committee acknowledges the increment in Parliament funding, the following should be noted:

• CDF allocation of $16.8million, is inadequate as it translates to $80 000 per constituency and is 60% of the Budget requirement of $28m. It is however 60% above the $10,5m allocated in the 8th Parliament.
• $500 000 for 210 Constituency Information Centres ($2381 per constituency) is a pittance given the state of the CICs. The allocation is a meagre 2% of the requirement. Plans to re-establish constituency information centers that are meant to improve the effectiveness of members as per the strategic plan will not be possible with such a provision.
• Parliament Budget estimates for employment made provision for the filling in of all vacant posts. Treasury concurrence was granted for 60 vacant posts and the remainder will be considered on a staggered arrangement. The allocated $2.3m falls short of the required $4.6 million.
• Vehicle loan scheme with rebates on duty was allocated $15.75 m out of the $21m request, which translate to $45,000 per member.
• A reasonable 90% budget allocation was made to Committees. Emphasis should be on timely release of funds to enable committees to discharge their constitutional mandate without interruptions. The budget allocation has an effect of reducing the 30 meetings, 5 filed visits per committee and 5 Public hearings by 10%.
• A reasonable 85% allocation was made for sessional expenses. The allocation has an effect of reducing the budgeted 90-day calendar by 15%. Parliament has an option to institute costs cutting measures to stay within the allocation. Goods and services are being inflated due to late payments of invoices.
• Treasury has continuously made provisions in the budget for the Women Parliamentary Caucus. However, the budget allocations have not been met with the actual release of funds resulting in the committee relying on Development partners for their activities.

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