No use to allocate Parliament money when only 30% is disbursed: Markham
Harare North legislator Norman Markham says there is no point in wasting time allocating funds to Parliament through the budget when only 30% is going to be disbursed.
In the 2022 national budget, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube is proposing to allocate about ZW$14 615 082 000 to the Parliament of Zimbabwe.
Other legislators are of the view that the fund is too little considering the amount of work that Parliament has to undertake.
Parliament plays three important roles in Zimbabwe namely, representative, legislative, and oversight.
Some of the roles require that legislators travel on fact-finding missions both in and outside the country.
At times Parliament has had to cancel some of its programs due to lack of funding.
In the 2021 national budget, Parliament has by September only received about 35% of the allocation from the treasury.
‘’Speaking in the National Assembly, Honourable Markham said there is no use in allocating funds that will not be disbursed.
‘’I have previously said which goes unanswered. There is no use for us to allocate any amount to Parliament if only 30% is going to be disbursed to us. This is the crux of the matter and the meager resources that we are budgeting for here – if we follow on what happened in the past two years, we are lucky if we get 40% of the Budget.
‘’Before anyone jumps down my throat about Parliamentarians looking after themselves, it follows that our constitutional mandate to report back to our constituencies cannot be done, number one.
‘’Number two; there are numerous workers in Parliament who are grossly underfunded,’’ he said.
In his response, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said his ministry has taken everything into account before deciding on the allocations.
He added that while there is a willingness to allocate more, the resources are not permitting at the moment.
‘’The welfare of Parliamentarians, staff of Parliament and the jobs that Parliament has to do in exercising its oversight and legislative roles – we have taken everything in that into account to arrive at these figures.
‘’There is very little room for maneuver Madam Chair. Even if we want to top up, where those resources would come from, where should we chop, or which Ministry, I am not so sure. So, there is little room for maneuver,’’ he said.
No use to allocate Parliament money when only 30% is disbursed: Markham
