The Swaziland Royal Household is to increase by E200
million (US$14 million) in the coming year to take it to E1.3 billion, an
independent monthly magazine in the kingdom has reported.
The Nation
reported (April 2017), ‘While the
entire budget for King Mswati and the royal household continues to grow in
hundreds of millions of emalangeni every year, social grants for elderly and the
physically challenged showed a very insignificant increase.’
King Mswati III rules
Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. Seven in ten of his
1.3 million subjects have incomes of less than US$2 per day.
The Nation
reported the budget increase as ‘mouth-watering’. It said elderly grants
(pensions) had a ‘paltry’ increase. The Finance Minister Martin Dlamini
announced in his February budget the grant would rise from E240 to
E400 per month.
The Nation
reported, ‘Even health institutions have seen cuts to their budget allocations
this year while the army’s allocation continues to rise unabated even though
the country is at peace. Money for agriculture has also been cut, despite that
the country has just come out a devastating drought
and farmers need help to find their feet.’
King Mswati has been criticised outside Swaziland for
his lavish spending. He has 13 palaces, fleets of BMW and Mercedes cars and at
least one Rolls-Royce. He is to receive a second private jet aircraft later
this year.
Swazi Members of Parliament
at first rejected
the entire national budget and called for it to be replaced with one that
favoured ordinary people. Later they relented and the budget was passed.
See also
SWAZI MPs
REJECT NATIONAL BUDGET
SWAZI PM
OVERTURNS BUDGET VOTE
SWAZILAND:
MASSIVE ‘SECURITY’ SPENDING
U.S.
SAYS BUDGET LACKS TRANSPARENCY
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2017/03/us-says-budget-lacks-transparency.html
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