ARMY SPENDS E10M ON FOOD IN 2 MONTHS

MBABANE – An amount of E10 million can only buy a two-month food supply to feed the army.

This was revealed by Minister of National Defence and Security Chief Mgwagwa Gamedze to the Parliament Finance Sessional Committee, which in turn tabled a report on the Supplementary Appropriation Bill No.5 of 2015 in the House of Assembly on Monday.

Gamedze had to explain to the committee the exorbitant supplementary estimates relating to his ministry. The ministry, in the 2014/15 financial year, was allocated E62 million, and out of this amount E55m was to cater for a 6.5 per cent cost of living adjustment.

“The honest truth is that only E10m of the E55m went to buying two months’ supply of food for the army under the personnel item. The rest went to the 6.5 per cent cost of living salary adjustment. We were at the time faced with acute shortages of food for the army,” explained the minister.
In the report, he is quoted to have said he did not want to go into details of the consequences of food shortages in the army. He said definitely something had to be done so that there was food for the army.

To curb the escalation of the army budget, he mentioned that the ministry was making serious efforts to improve farming projects so that self sustenance was reached in the next three years.
The specific number of army personnel in the country remains classified.

Meanwhile, the budget for the three national security forces put together for the 2015/16 financial year stands at E2 billion. Like in previous years, the army got the lion’s share of E912 million from E828 million, the Royal Swaziland Police (RSP) was allotted E780 million from E725m, and His Majesty’s Correctional Services (HMCS) received E365 million from E356 million.

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