Swaziland’s unelected Prime Minister Barnabas
Dlamini has forced members of the Swazi Parliament to overturn their decision to reject
the national budget.
He has also forced them to abandon a debate on the
contents of the budget in the House of Assembly and instead move discussions
straight to committee sittings.
Members of the House had on 1 March 2017 rejected the budget, saying
it did not do enough for ordinary people. More than 12 percent of the budget is for defence and security.
Additional money is to be spent on the police for ‘crowd management services’.
On
Tuesday (7 March 2017) they reversed their decision.
Swaziland is ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan
Africa’s last absolute monarch. Political parties are banned from taking part
in elections and the Prime Minister and senior ministers are selected by the
King.
The Swazi Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by the King,
reported on Wednesday (8 March 2017) that the Prime Minister ‘minced no words’ then he told
Parliament ‘that nothing would be changed in the budget’.
The
newspaper, described by the Media Institute of Southern Africa in a report on
media freedom in the kingdom, as a ‘pure propaganda machine for the royal family’ reported the MPs
‘came back to their senses’ and allowed passage to
the Budget Bill.
There are ongoing concerns about the ways national budgets are made in
Swaziland. In a review of the 2016 Swaziland budget, the US State
Department found details were missing about how
money given to the Royal Family was spent. Also hidden was detailed
information about spending on the military, police and correctional services.
The United States undertakes annual reports on ‘fiscal
transparency’ of governments that receive US assistance to ‘help ensure US
taxpayer money is used appropriately’.
About
seven in ten of Swaziland’s 1.3 million population live in abject poverty with
incomes leas than US$2 a day.
MPs had
called for a revised budget to be tabled that addressed the needs for potable
clean water; feeder roads networks; community projects; an increase in grants
for the elderly and people living with disability; food security and the
construction of new health clinics.
The
Finance Sessional Committee of the House of Assembly will now ask Government if
a supplementary budget to address members of parliament’s concerns can be made.
See also
SWAZI MPs
REJECT NATIONAL BUDGET
SWAZILAND:
MASSIVE ‘SECURITY’ SPENDING
U.S.
SAYS BUDGET LACKS TRANSPARENCY
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