“We are astounded by the $358 million allocation to the Defense ministry, ahead of the health…”
MDC Statement on budget announcement
26 November 2015
The MDC dismisses the 2016 National Budget presentation by Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa today as a damp squib which provides no hope for the millions of suffering Zimbabweans. There is nothing substantial or new in it, just the same old promises as we have become accustomed to.
Latest figures from the Zimbabwe Economic Policy Analysis and Research Unit (Zeparu), show that foreign travel expenses exceeded the previous budget by nearly 240 percent while employment costs and capital works overshot the target by 16 percent and 23 percent, respectively, yet nothing was proposed in the budget to restructure this dubious anomaly. Rather than cutting wasteful expenditure from the President’s travel expense and bloated cabinet, Chinamasa’s budget leaned towards passing off Zimbabwe’s growing budget deficits to the already over-burdened taxpayers.
We are astounded by the $358 million allocation to the Defense ministry, ahead of the health and other key sectors when there is no war to speak of in the country. It defies all logic that at a time when government claims to be drowning in red ink and failing to pay doctors and civil servants, Chinamasa chooses to allocate such a huge amount of money, under the circumstances to the Defence Ministry. The Minister has some explaining to do.
Zimbabwe’s economy is currently at its lowest ebb and over the last 2 and half years we have witnessed an unrelenting deterioration of our economic and fiscal realities, with the ZANU PF government floundering on its electoral promises to stimulate economic growth and create 2 million jobs. We are perplexed when instead Chinamasa speaks of more job cuts at ZISCO Steel.
Kurauone Chihwayi
MDC National Spokesperson