Farai Dziva|The MDC believes there is no need to allocate a huge chunk of the National Budget to the army because Zimbabwe is not in a war situation.

Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube is expected to present the National Budget on Thursday.

Read the MDC Youth Assembly statement below:

Mthuli Ncube is expected to announce the National Budget for 2020 tomorrow and the MDC Youth Assembly being a genuine representative of young people has listed its expectations from the budget.

As MDC Youth Assembly we expect the Finance Minister to curtail government expenditure and extravagance particularly in the Office of The President and Cabinet (OPC) and Parliament.

Given that we are not in a war situation, we also expect the budget to be more inclined towards service delivery, welfare and development rather than over spending on the military and police.

It is our recommendation that the military get at least half of what was allocated to them in the last budget. Surely we cannot have a budgetary allocation to military that is above countries in war situations like Syria and Afghanistan.

As such it is our conviction that the health sector should be prioritized as per the Abuja Declaration which says that at least 15% of the national budget should be channeled towards this important sector.

We would want to see construction of more rehabilitation centres especially given that more of our youths are now resorting to drugs due to high levels of unemployment.

Refurbishment of clinics and hospitals should be prioritized too in order to improve primary health care for the poor.

It is our resolve too that the education sector should be allocated no less than 20% of the national budget as per the requirements of Dakar Declaration which Zimbabwe is a signatory to.

We recommend that the government prioritize the funding of science and technology from primary level and vocational training centres levels.

We need better schools and learning facilities especially targeting the periphery of the periphery where in some areas pupils are still learning under trees even in adverse whether conditions.

As young social democrats, our ideological persuasion is anchored on solidarity with the down trodden and as such we expect the budget to be pro-poor and shun austerity in its totality.

In that regard, we expect the unconditional removal of the 2% tax which adversely affect our largely unemployed populace.

Instead, we advocate for heavy taxation of the rich to fund developmental aspirations of the poor.

Being a party that was born from the labour movement, it is also our hope that this upcoming budget will solve the impasse between civil servants and the government.

The budget should also prioritize funding and resuscitation of industries so as to create employment in what we term, Decent Work Agenda.

In conclusion, we would like to reiterate our displeasure at the extravagance epitomized by the Office of the President and Cabinet whereby top officials negate the upgrading of local health sector only to seek medication outside the country on taxpayers money.

Stephen Sarkozy Chuma
MDC Youth Assembly National Spokesperson