20 Feb 2013

Ghanzi District Council has approved the over P162 million 2013/2014 budget.

Presenting the budget to council, chairperson of finance committee, Mr Gabriel Nguahoka said the budget comprises of P9 179 280 from the council’s coffers and P153 819 610 from government as Revenue Support Grant (RSG) amounting to P162 899 890.

Mr Nguahoka said the RSG budget has had a cut off of 15 per cent, as it was below their submitted requirement of P179 959 610.

Therefore, to cater for the budget cuts, Mr Nguahoka said replacement of vehicles, purchase of office furniture, computers and accessories would be affected in the next financial year.

In addition, he said the decrease in the budget would affect expenditure votes. Responding to the presentation, Cllr Ezekiel Kajuu suggested that in future, sub councils of both Ghanzi south and north should have separate budgets.

Meanwhile, Cllr Nathaniel Tuahuku stated that the budget had a shortfall as the Back-to-School initiative was not catered for.

In response, council secretary, Mr Nelson Molepolole said Back-to-School is an initiative of the Ministry of Education and Skills Development, but said the council would incorporate it in the budget once they get figures and estimates to carry out the initiative.

 Mr Molepolole also explained that sub councils do have their budgets for the purposes of monitoring, but a consolidated budget was meant for submission purposes to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development. ENDS