By Isaac Zulu
The 2022 National Budget is not a cash based budget, but an activity based budget, says Patriot Front Mkushi South Member of Parliament Davies Chisopa.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Chisopa pointed out that most pronouncements contained in the 2022 National Budget are not attainable because they will require generating some income for them to be actualised.
“If you look at the 2022 National Budget, it is not a cash based budget, but an activity based budget. When we read through the Yellow Book those are called activities. Obviously when you talk about the budget is a projection of income and expenditure. So if you look at those pronouncements, you don’t expect most of them to be attainable because they will be based on income,” said Chisopa.
And Chisopa has welcomed the UPND government’s decision to increase the Constituency Development Fund in next year’s budget.
The Parliamentarian observed that CDF has been making great impact in the implementation of development projects in communities.
“Because CDF is a Constitunalised figure and they have made that pronouncement, government is obliged to release that money. And the increment in the Constituency Development Fund is a welcome move because I think that, if you look at how most of the monies in the budget are expended, you will find that CDF has been making a lot of impact in the communities compared to other monies or grants that government has been giving to the councils,” explained Chisopa. “I will give you an example of the Local Government Equalisation Fund because I had the privilege to sit in the Local Government Accounts (Parliamentary) Committee. During our tour we discovered that Constituency Development Fund performs far much better than the Local Government Equalisation Fund. And management staff that we interviewed acknowledged that CDF has been making great impact than the Local Government Equalisation Fund.”
Chisopa also welcomed the decision to decetralise the disbursement of CDF to local authorities; stating that this will enhance the process involved in the execution of development projects in communities.
The Mkushi South lawmaker also expressed fear that, given the magnitude of the scope of work that is expected to be executed using CDF, the budgetary allocation for the CDF in next year’s budget might not be sufficient.
“If you heard what the (finance) minister was saying, he talked about the need to provide accommodation (staff houses), for teachers, accommodation for health workers, accommodation for judiciary workers. I should just say infrastructure for all the ministries. We also have to work on the feeder roads, we have to do some bridges and we have to provide educational sponsorship to the vulnerable children,” explained Chisopa. “So it’s quite a huge responsibility that has been placed at Constituency level. So if you look at the scope that will be involved, yes basically money has been moved to local level; but in terms of project implemention, the money May not even be enough.”
Chisopa continued.
“For example, Luano district has been lacking in terms of public workers’ accommodation and we used to wait for Central Government, but this time around it is Constituency Development Fund. Yes, the process will be faster because money will directly be brought in the Constituency and the benefits will be seen, especially that there are issues to do with empowerment. So we will wait for government to give us the scope so that we confine ourselves to the guidelines that we will be given.”
Chisopa future reminded the UPND administration to guard against the temptation of borrowing for purposes of fulfilling budgetary obligations.
He is said that the architects of the 2022 National Budget should have taken into account the fact the country is highly indebted before making budgetary allocations that might not be attainable.
“You are aware that our country’s current debt stands at about US$14 billion and yet our National Budget is US$10 billion, which translates into K173 million. And I hope that the archtects of the 2022 Budget have taken that into account. We only pray that we don’t contract another huge debt in order to meet the commitments that government has made in the National Budget,” added Chisopa.
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