BY PRIVELEDGE GUMBODETE
CITIZENS Coalition for Change (CCC) interim vice-president Tendai Biti yesterday criticised Finance minister Mthuli Ncube for constantly overriding Parliament following his announcement of a supplementary budget.
Biti said this in Parliament while debating Ncube’s supplementary budget announced last month.
“Even though we are calling it a supplementary budget, it can’t be. It is, in fact, a brand new budget. A supplementary budget should be a 10%-15% of the initial budget. When it is over 100%, it can’t be supplementary,” he said.
“The Minister of Finance brought a budget in November of 2021 that was based on certain projections. Hardly more than six months later, he has come to this august House to ask for a 100% in his budget.
“We question the credibility and legitimacy of all the processes we are doing. It’s a waste of time that we are asked to sit here when the minister is going to go and be 100% off target.”
Ncube is also seeking condonation for unauthorised expenditure amounting to $100,7 billion in 2020, and US$6,8 billion for 2019 from Parliament.
Norton MP Temba Mliswa (Independent) said: “We have to look at whether what we passed before has been disbursed or not. The last time we debated, 30% had been disbursed, not 100%. So why do we need a supplementary budget when you have not disbursed the first lot?”
Goromonzi West MP Energy Mutodi (Zanu PF) also said the supplementary budget did not address the economic challenges the country is facing.
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