Home | Feature | THANK YOU MPS

THANK YOU MPS

Font size: Decrease font Enlarge font

WE thank our Members of Parliament for putting a stop to the ridiculous 15 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) on electricity proposed by Cabinet. Only an insensitive government would want to increase the burden on its impoverished citizens who are about to endure a scheduled 15 per cent increase in the cost of electricity in three weeks time. This is the same government that can barely afford to pay its own electricity bills but expects everybody else to.


Also pleasing to see was the increased allocation to Micro Projects after Cabinet decided to reduce it. E118 million is still not enough but it will go a long way. Micro Projects is playing a vital role in developing communities and driving SME growth. Government is always preaching that the growth of our economy lies in the strength of our SMEs, so why reduce the allocations to this essential sector? Is this because it is empowering the ordinary citizen? Most likely, looking at the fact that the bulk of the capital projects budget goes to three or four big companies, leaving the majority of contractors to scramble for crumbs.


The Regional Development Fund (RDF) is also an essential ingredient to the development of our people at grassroots level, only if it is utilised properly though. Audit reports detailing the abuse of this fund present a need for closer monitoring. What is encouraging though, is how communities have organised themselves to put together development plans which identify and prioritise projects that would have the most meaningful impact on a larger section of the community. If implemented properly, we would expect increased funding towards these plans so we can quicken the reduction of our 63 per cent poverty level in this country. However, these plans do not fall into Cabinet’s priorities or interests to give more to the people.
Cabinet would rather have one per cent added on VAT to get more from us. One was hoping it would also be reversed, but the MPs seem to have bought into the copy-cat approach as being best so that we have less of a fuss in refunds. I am still not convinced.


Let’s put all the figures on the table so we can compare the impact the one per cent will have on the citizens versus the cost of claiming for the difference. So what if people come and claim E1. It’s their money after all. Let the customers decide whether they want it back or not. 


This is another classic example of how our Cabinet would do anything to block putting money into our pockets. It would rather increase VAT than to give us our change. If we are copying South Africa, why not increase the elderly grants for instance, to help cushion the anticipated increase in food prices. While at it, why not introduce grants for the unemployed.


Another example of this ‘grab more from the people’ attitude can be found in the intention to increase the E18 Graded Tax, when we were all expecting it to be scrapped after it was discovered that it was more expensive to collect it from us.
No, Cabinet would rather increase it to make sure we dig out more from our close to empty pockets. One wonders how the elderly will make do with E60 less to their annual grants. What about the Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) who could barely afford the E18? With this increase, government wants more money from the unemployed.


This is a sign of serious desperation and it signals a much bigger problem that government is not telling us about. Are we about to experience an unprecedented collapse of our economy? There are talks within government corridors that the current cash flow crisis facing government is worse than that experienced between 2008 and 2011.
How else do you explain charging towards poor citizens with guns blazing and ordering everyone to surrender all the money in their possession?
Somebody at Hospital Hill has evidently forgotten that creating more taxable jobs is what will put more revenue into the national treasury and stimulate economic growth. Failing to realise this is also a sign of a Cabinet that is totally out of touch with the people.
In fact, the reason allocations directed towards the benefit of the majority of the people are insufficient or easy to reduce, is because they are not driven or developed from grassroots level. It is a top down approach. Perhaps the next Parliament can change this approach for the greater good of the country.

Comments (0 posted):

Post your comment comment

Please enter the code you see in the image: