Bloated payroll a result of inclusive Govt: Chinamasa

via Bloated payroll a result of inclusive Govt: Chinamasa | The Herald March 12, 2015

The Constitutional amendments proposal to trim a bloated public payroll through streamlining certain Government departments was meant to provoke national debate, Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa has said.

Minister Chinamasa told the National Assembly yesterday that expanded Government departments and constitutional commissions were a creation of the inclusive Government and no blame should be apportioned to any person.

He was responding to a question from Binga North National Assembly Member, Mr Prince Sibanda (MDC-T), who asked if the proposal would not have effects on the financial market.

Harare West MP Ms Jessie Majome had also asked if Government would also consider trimming the Executive which she said was equally bloated.

“What I said was meant to provoke debate. The new Constitution created a bloated bureaucracy, which is difficult to sustain. For the record, the bloated Executive was due to the inclusive Government, so we are all to blame. I am reluctant to go to developing partners to fund our recurrent expenditures because that would undermine our sovereignty,” said Minister Chinamasa.

Minister Chinamasa said if he was Finance Minister then, he was going to raise the financial implications the creation of a bloated structure had on the fiscus.

He said if the nation agreed with his views on the proposed constitutional amendments, he would take them to the Government.

At the weekend, Minister Chinamasa proposed to trim the Government structure, including the legislature saying the bloated public payroll was gobbling around 90 percent of the annual budget.

Responding to another question, Minister Chinamasa said Government was in the process of identifying people to sit on a Commission of Enquiry into the conversion process of pension fund and liabilities from Zimbabwe dollar to the United States dollar.

Chegutu East, Cde Webster Shamu (Zanu-PF), wanted to know how far Government had gone towards the establishment of the Commission of Enquiry as spelt out by Minister Chinamasa in his budget statement last year.

He said an agreement on the modalities had already been agreed.

Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Deputy Minister Dr Godfrey Gandawa, said Government would soon start paying student teachers at universities together with those at polytechnic colleges.

Budiriro MP, Mr Costa Machingauta, sought to know why was Government not paying university student teachers on attachment when their counterparts at polytechnics were being paid.