CALL TO REJECT NATIONAL BUDGET

MANZINI - Socio-economic groups have brought a twist to the 2019/20 National Budget by launching a campaign, which if successful, the country’s history books can be rewritten.

In fact, in their Peoples’ Budget Campaign, which they launched in the presence of the European Union (EU) Ambassador to Eswatini, Esmeralda Hernandez Aragones at The George Hotel yesterday, the socio-economic clusters called for Parliament to reject the 2019/20 National Budget.

They demanded that Parliament should reverse their decision of passing the budget without amendments, and that this should stand until everybody in the communities participates and brings opinions in prioritising their needs.

Equal

“The Minister of Finance, Neal Rijkenberg’s budget should remain unapproved until the nation develops a pro-poor and equitable budget to mainstream job creation, equal opportunities and one that is transparent,” reads part of the campaign’s concept note.
The theme of the campaign is; ‘Rights4all’ and it calls for a national budget that would be pro-poor, equitable, able to create jobs, meet the health and social needs of the people.

Jerome Shongwe from the Foundation of Socio-Economic Justice, who introduced the campaign, said the people of Eswatini knew their problems and did not need anyone to lecture them about same. On that note, he said they also did not need to be told where money should be allocated.

Further in the concept note, the groups said the 2019/20 National Budget appeared to have adopted economic policies that aimed to speedily raise incomes towards addressing the ailing national economy through increasing taxes and levies.

They said the country seemed to be aiming to borrow money from other countries and international banks to support its ailing economy.
“These measures will worsen the living standards in the country, increase poverty and hunger as bus fares, food and basic family costs shall increase,” the groups said.

They said those employed would not be able to support their children’s education, feed themselves and cater for their medical bills among other things.
They argued that in order to come up with a compressive national budget, all emaSwati should have participated in its development. They said issues of national budget should not be for professionals and elected representatives only, but every citizen should be involved.

Argued

Again, they argued that a national budget should be developed to meet the needs of the poor and look into livelihoods of individuals and workers.
They said it should also support food security measures and seek to improve education and health sectors.

“It should also have concrete provisions to foster equality, human rights and non-discrimination for all, with special attention to vulnerable people like women, children, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) among others,” they said.

Furthermore, they highlighted a number of international declarations that were signed by the country, which the budget should respect and adhere to.
It should be noted though that a breakdown and further analysis of the minister’s budget actually shows that low income earners will be left with more money in their pockets.

To achieve their goals, Shongwe said since they had launched their campaign, they would march to deliver petitions to different government departments, including the Ministry of Finance, Parliament and the Prime Minister’s Office, to mention a few.

Again, he said they would hold rallies in communities to sensitise members of the public that they should stand up for their rights.
In the process, he said they would also collect information on what the different communities wanted to see in the budget and that would help in compiling an alternative budget, which they would table to government.

Shongwe said they were aware that their campaign might not have the intended effect this year but from the 2020/21 National Budget, they would make sure that the country developed one that was people-driven.

Promoted

The People’s Budget Campaign is promoted by COSPE, FSEJ, Arterial Network Swaziland, Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA), Coalition of Informal Economy Association Swaziland (CIEAS) and Diabetes Swaziland. The project got financial support from the European Union (EU) in Eswatini under the Right4All project.

International

declarations signed: 
In 1990, Eswatini signed an agreement in a World Declaration on Education for All Framework for Action, where it agreed that everyone has a right to education. So, government should fully pay for primary, secondary and high school levels.

In April 2001, Eswatini signed and ratified the Abuja Declaration where it agreed to allocate at least 15 per cent of the national budget to health.
In 2002, the government of Eswatini signed the Maputo Declaration on agriculture and Food Security, where it agreed to allocate at least 10 per cent of its national budget to agricultural development.
In 2003, in the UNESCO Convention for safeguarding and promotion of intangible cultural heritage, the government of Eswatini agreed to strengthen arts and culture.
In 2004, Eswatini ratified the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the budget should adhere to it.   The international labour standards are legal and binding instruments drawn by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) constituencies involving government employees and government, where the constituencies unanimously agreed to respect and protect rights to organise collective bargaining for equal remuneration. This includes the right to organise and participate in labour protests.
Eswatini is part of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and shall adhere to its protocols, especially those addressing gender equality and expressly mention issues related to gender responsive budgeting.

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