“VAN” (Shingira Vambe – Harare, Zimbabwe) :: It is pointless to debate the recently presented budget because of the running budget which was not fully implemented after a shocker of inflation hit the country in the first quarter of 2019, members of parliament said.
David Musabayana told the speaker of parliament, Wednesday afternoon that it was important for the Minister of Finance, MtuliNcube to separate the previous budget and the current budget which he presented last week due to inflation which is currently recorded at 558%.
Mbizo legislator, Settlement Chikwinya, stood and opposed the approval of the budget on the basis that the budget should be presented to the public, to citizens, who have voted for these legislators.
“It will not be proper for us to approve this budget because of the first point raised by honourable Musabayana, secondly on the basis that we should first consult the people of Zimbabwe and thirdly on the basis that there are changes in the prices of goods and service but salaries haven’t changed” Chikwinya said.
It has however came as a shocker to members both from the MDC and Zanupf parties that the minister is talking about meeting and surpassing the target through tax revenue collection and recorded an 800 million surplus in the first quarter of 2019.
The argument raised towards the current Zimbabwean economy is that of stagnant salaries when government is increasing prices of goods and services from 300 to 1000% and civil servants salaries where it gets most of its revenue, by 48%.
The minister of finance was also confronted by a number of NGOs Tuesday morning at a local hotel for over 2% tax which he was basing on, on the surplus he loudly spoke about.
Majority have questioned how could we have a surplus when people are dying in hospital for lack of medication and proper treatment, surplus when the country doesn’t have electricity, without fuel and clean running water and without bread for the people to eat and he claims he claims the country’s economy had improved and making a surplus.
“I am still trying to find out from which books of accounts or economics the minister has been getting his concepts? He is addressing the International Monetary fund and (IMF) and the world bank not Zimbabwean economy”, Chikwinya said.
He also told parliament that Zimbabweans were over taxed, in other interesting parliament debates of 1989 and 1990, the then Member of Parliament for Highfield Constituency, Solomon Tawengwa also stressed this same issue in the same house of Assembly, that Zimbabweans were over taxed and over taxing will not improve the Zimbabwean economy but cause more people to avoid paying tax.
Soon after and during the budget presentation in Parliament last week, Members from the ruling Zanupf party were heard saying the finance minister, MtuliNcube is misleading the president.
Meanwhile various groups and organisations have threated to pull off and remove their funding towards projects that they have been doing in and around the country, that of helping to alleviate poverty stricken Zimbabweans and the less privileged in most rural settings, and the minister approved to scrap off the 2% which was currently charged on each and every transaction either by bank or Ecocash.
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