Mthuli Ncube’s “False” Figures Hog The Limelight Again, Parliament Demand Answers
28 November 2019
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By A Correspondent- MDC Alliance legislator for Dzivarasekwa Edwin Mushoriwa has accused finance minister Mthuli Ncube of tabling incorrect information to the august house and the nation.

He said this Wednesday alleging that the figures presented by the Finance minister in the Blue Book, Budget Statement and Infrastructure statement were not coherent.

Mushoriwa implored the speaker of parliament Jacob Mudenda to bring the man in charge of the national purse to “order”.

He said:

“The budget papers that have been laid before Parliament by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, namely the Blue Book, the Budget Statement and the Infrastructure Statement. 

…..for probably the third or second year in this session, in this Parliament, the figures that are contained in those three books do not talk to each other.  

The Blue Book for instance carries a lot of mistakes and it is very difficult, Mr. Speaker Sir, for Members of Parliament to actually understand which is correct because you will find that the Blue Book is different from the Budget Statement and it is also different from what is contained in the Infrastructure Statement. 

To that extent, Mr. Speaker Sir, we would request the Chair to order the relevant Minister to bring accurate information to this House to enable us to debate those issues.”

Mushoriwa’s statement comes a few days after China issued a statement disputing the figure of aid reported by Ncube during the budget presentation a fortnight ago.

In a budget statement on Thursday last week, Ncube revealed that Zimbabwe received $194 million from bilateral donors between January and September, the bulk of the money from Western countries.

He said China provided $3.6 million, a figure that was disputed by the Chinese Embassy in Harare saying in a statement:

“This is very different from the situation on the ground. The embassy wishes that the relevant departments of the Zimbabwean government will make comprehensive assessments on the statistics of bilateral supports and accurately reflect its actual situation when formulating budget statement,” the embassy said in a terse statement.”

The embassy revealed that its records showed that bilateral financial support to Zimbabwe was far greater, at $136.8 million between January and September, and the figure excluded donations to vulnerable groups.