31 Mar 2014

Parliament has approved supplementary estimates of Expenditure for the Consolidated Fund for the 2013/14 financial year .

When presenting the supplementary estimates, Assistant Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Mr Vincent Seretse said financial paper no 2 of 2013/14 contained supplementary estimates of expenditure for the Consolidated Fund amounting to over P18 million.

He said four ministries submitted supplementary budget estimates amounting to P178.9million, out of which P18 million was recommended for approval for the three organisations of expenditure namely Parliament, Administration of Justice and Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security.

Mr Seretse said Parliament requested additional funding to augment funds for accounts, which were directly affected by the costs associated with the work of the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) Special Committee. He said the costs are related to transportation and subsistence (internal and external travel) and incidental expenses.

He said the decision to carry out the BMC investigations was taken after the 2013/14 budget had been passed and therefore the attendant costs were not budgeted for and had to compete with other activities for the available budget.

He said the Administration of Justice requested for additional funding amounting to P6.8 million to cater for the shortfall in the budget provision for Legal Costs and Service Charges accounts.

He said the requested amount for legal costs will be used to settle outstanding bills from private attorneys who are appointed by the registrar to represent accused persons in especially murder trials. 

Minister Seretse further told Parliament that additional funding for service charges is to meet the shortfall in the approved budget mainly because of the increase in electricity consumption due to the fact that High Court and Court of Appeal buildings were complex because of the systems used.

Mr Seretse said government has stepped up its anti-poaching activities and the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) was actively involved, hence the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security requested additional funding to augment food account for BDF.

When debating the supplementary estimates, MPs supported the supplementary estimates noting that they will go a long way in filling in the budgetary gaps that existed in the ministry budgets.

Kgatleng West MP, Mr Gilbert Mangole said approval of the estimates was an indication that budget proposals were not a cast and stone because there could be state of emergencies that need supplementary estimates.

In this regard, he said at Kgatleng, tribal offices were no longer suitable for occupation and that a certificate has been issued. Thus, he said they could also be budgeted for under the consolidated fund.

Boteti MP, Mr Slumber Tsogwane said he was worried that they never got feedback about how the money has been used by the Select Committees and if the committees really benefitted government. Ends