MPS REJECT F18/19 BUDGET

Sir,

Our Members of Parliament are at it again, reportedly rejecting the 2018/19 budget that was delivered by the Finance minister and labelling it as ‘umhlolo’.

This is very interesting indeed and I’m not sure if the sudden awakening of the Members of Parliament has anything to do with the fact that it is sunset in as far as their term of office is concerned.
While some of the reasons that have forced our Members of Parliament to reject the budget are genuine, I believe they have missed the point which is where will government get the money if it does not increase VAT and service fees?

The Members of Parliament, in the five years in Parliament, allowed the Executive to spend our meagre resources recklessly despite several warnings from experts that our expenditure patterns were not sustainable. It is, therefore, intriguing that they have suddenly realised that this year’s budget is not pro poor, the truth is that this has been the trend since the term of office of these Members of Parliament started.

In case they have forgotten, they have over the years approved capital projects that will never improve the lives of ordinary Swazis and to refresh their memories, think of the under construction convention centre and hotel; the multi-billion Emalangeni airport which for all intents and purposes is a white elephant that the taxpayers have to continue feeding at great peril.

They should come out and tell us the logic behind their approval of these vanity projects that will never improve the lives of the nation. The actions of the Members of Parliament are nothing but too little, too late. In case they have forgotten, most people still don’t have access to clean drinking water, most hospitals don’t have medication and most of our rural roads don’t qualify to be called roads, this was the status five years ago and sadly it is still the status today.

Our Members of Parliament should not play mind games, they have been part of the problem and this is the legacy that Swazis will remember them by. They have over the years failed dismally to put the interests of Swazis first, instead they have approved very questionable projects at great expense to the nation.

As it stands, government has no option but to drastically increase taxes, this is only the beginning, expert after expert has been warning us over the years.
Worse is still to come. As a parting shot to our Members of Parliament, don’t worry about elections, what you should worry about is how history will judge you. Take solace from the wise words of former US President Barak Obama; “Our destiny is not written for us but is written by us,” surely you have written our destiny as a Swazi nation.

Hanger
MHLUME

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