12 Feb 2014

The 2014/15 budget presented in Parliament by the Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Mr Kenneth Matambo on February 3 continues to attract mixed reactions from Members of Parliament.

Debating the budget in Parliament on February 10, the MP for Tati West, Mr Charles Tibone said the finance minister needed to be commended for presenting a relatively good budget against all odds. He said the country was faced with challenges such as the weak global economy and recession which had ravaged the market for exports. 

He said there was no perfect budget as there would always be disagreements, adding that he did not expect opposition parties to agree with the budget. Mr Tibone said the budget was people centred, noting that close to 50 per cent of it went to social welfare programmes.

However, he said the 29 per cent allocated to productive activities was too small and would not allow the economy to create the number of jobs the country required. He said there was a need for a comprehensive programme aimed at weaning people out of Ipelegeng since the programme was a temporary relief measure.

The MP for Francistown South, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi said he was not happy with the budget as it had nothing to offer for his constituency. He said the budget would not improve the lives of Francistown residents. He said the budget had failed to allocate funds to the Francistown City Council so that it could improve the lives of residents.

He said the city council had long drawn its storm water drainage master plan, but that it had not been allocated funds to implement the plan. Mr Mmolotsi said the recent floods that hit the northern city  were exacerbated by the lack of a storm water drainage system and poor roads.

Mr Mmolotsi requested the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development to allocate funds to the council to address the problem of flooding. Regarding education, he said it was a serious challenge, adding that the government has no clue as to what could be done to address the problem of poor results.

He said MPs were aware of challenges besieging the education ministry, and that the government should listen to them.

Touching on economic growth, Mr Mmolotsi said the budget does not inform the nation about plans to create employment, adding that funds allocated for Ipelegeng should have been used to finance a leather works project in order to create sustainable jobs for Batswana.

He said the construction industry was growing, but that it only benefited foreign construction companies, especially  the Chinese. He added that Chinese companies have not done well on delivering projects on time, citing the Francistown stadium and Morupule B power station.

The MP for Kanye South, Mr Abram Kesupile said research should be made a priority across all sectors to help the government come up with ways to fight unemployment.

He said the government has been emphasising the need to diversify the economy, but has no road map as to how it could diversify the economy.

However, Mr Kesupile commended the government for increasing the VAT threshold, arguing that the tax has resulted in the closure of some businesses.

The MP for Palapye, Mr Moiseraele Goya commended Mr Matambo for using the incremental budgeting system instead of the zero based budgeting system, saying it was more advantageous as it was more stable and changes gradually.

However, he expressed concern over the growing recurrent budget. “This is not good because if left unaddressed the government will not be able to manage the recurrent budget,” said Mr Goya. ENDS