22 Feb 2013

Parliament has adjourned a debate on the 2013/14 recurrent and development budget for the Ministry of State President in order for  the minister to consult with his officials and clarify some issues.

This arose after the Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi presented budget estimates requesting Parliament to approve P851 961 990 for the recurrent budget and P918 614 000 for the development budget.

The main issue, which led MPs to query the budget estimates, was the request to approve P195 000 000 for the purpose of augmenting the Office of the President‘s office space by either direct purchase or construction of office buildings under the development budget.

Kanye North MP, Mr Kentse Rammidi asked the minister what he wanted to do with the P195 000 000 as his request was not specific as to whether the ministry would purchase or construct new buildings.

He argued that many projects had been deferred, hence the need for the minister to be specific about the project that his ministry was asking funds for.

Mr Rammidi also said he was worried that though many projects were deferred owing to the economic situation those under the State President were being given priority despite the fact that waste collection in towns and fire services departments were under resourced.

 He refused to support the approval and asked that the P195 000 0000 be removed from the estimates.

The MP for Lobatse, Mr Nehemiah Modubule also did not approve of the budget and sought more clarification on the issue.

After the speaker adjourned Parliament for some minutes, the minister informed Parliament that he was deferring the request to a later date so that he could consult. ENDS