WE WANT ANSWERS, MARTIN

This week I express my opinion on the purpose of a national budget. I will start with the role of parliament and the people in a budget and the power relations.

According to section 63(g) and (h) of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland, states that it the duty of every citizen to protect and preserve public property,and tocombatmisuse and waste of public funds and property; co-operate with lawful agencies in the maintenance of law and order.

According to Section 84(1) of the Constitution: “Subject to the provisions of this constitution, the people of Swaziland have a right to be heard through and represented by their own freely chosen representatives in the government of the country.”

Government, which is the executive in this scenario, is answerable to the people through their representatives who are parliamentarians.
The people, who are also the electorate and tax payers, are the paymaster of the government as the public purse comes from the peoples taxes.

In this relationship, government plays a role of being a servant to the people.   It is on these bases that parliament which is the peoples representatives will look at, debate query, accept or even reject the budget.
If the budget does not address the needs and the priorities of the people they represent. It is important that a budget speech should be responsive and sensitive to the speech from the throne, international treaties, Social development Goals ( SDGs), national priorities, statements from the highest national policy making body (Sibaya) comments from 2012 and 2016 and national crises such as El nino and Dineo cyclone.

Integrity is the prerequisite for holding and serving in an office of finance minister because the entire nation looks up to the minister for finance for fair and just distribution of taxes for propelled service delivery, the quality of life for all citizens and the competitiveness of our economy in the global village. I know that the finance minister took an oath of office to be true to the mandate of the finance office and the constitution of the country.
However, I went through the budget speech, comparing it with the supporting documents, the book of estimates in particular, the Auditor General’s Report and several Parliament resolutions that have a bearing on the budget on monetary issues.

It is on the basis of such comparison with relevant documents mentioned above that I question the integrity of the minister’s budget speech.
The budget speech talks about the roads that have been budgeted for, mentioning them including Siphofaneni to Maloma yet this road infrastructure  does not appear on the book of estimates. The Nsoko-Maloma and Nsalitshe road does not appear in the book of estimates. The estimates show that E10.7 million was spent on Bulembu to Piggs’ Peak road. Has there been anything done on that road yet?

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