WHY IS COUNTRY MAKING SO MANY LOANS? – MPS

LOBAMBA – Members of Parliament have punched holes in the manner in which government continues to make unending requests for loans from international banks and organisations.
The MPs said they were worried that in the next 10 years or more, the country will find itself swimming in serious debt.

This took place yesterday at the House of Assembly, where the MPs were up in arms as they complained that they wanted the Minister of Finance to first present to them a preamble on some of the money bills which were in the Order Paper, and justify why government needed loans.

The government bills which were in yesterday’s Order Paper included the Opec Fund for International Development (OFID) Loan Bill No.13 of 2017, which is for the national referral hospital project.
The other one is the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa Loan Bill No.15 of 2017, which is also for the national referral hospital. Also in the list is the Saudi Fund for Development Loan Bill No.16 of 2017 and all the bills were to be presented with a certificate of urgency.

When the Minister of Finance Martin Dlamini was given a chance to make the first reading of the Bills, the MPs stood up and demanded that he first make a preamble so that the whole world would know why the loans were needed in the first place.

They mentioned that they wanted him to make a preamble which they said would be followed by questions that they had, including how much the country was already owing the different international banks and organisations.
This led to some confusion as there was an argument that there was no need for the preamble and that the Bill needed to be handed over to the committee responsible, where stakeholders would then be allowed to pose questions.
Mbabane West MP Johane Shongwe, threw the House in stitches of laughter when he mentioned that government had a tendency or rushing money bills and giving the committees responsible less time, like one night to complete the work.

“They will just invite us to spend one night at a hotel and next thing the bill for the loan will be passed. I want to say what government is doing is dangerous. You cannot expect a money bill to be discussed in one night because that means the stakeholders will not get a chance to have their voices heard,” Shongwe said.

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