The Swaziland Government is
to spend E1.5bn (US$125m) this year building a conference centre and five-star
hotel to host
the African Union summit in 2020 that will last eight days.
This is more than the sum
allocated to the Ministry of Agriculture (E1.4bn) or the Ministry of Defence
(E1.15bn). It is the biggest single capital project in Swaziland’s budget this
year. Total capital spending is set at E5.6bn.
It comes as the Finance
Minister Martin Dlamini announced Value Added Tax (VAT) would be increased by 1 percent to 15 percent and
a review would be made of the VAT Act to allow taxation of electricity for the
first time. Commentators within Swaziland say this will have a huge effect on the poor. Seven in ten of the estimated 1.1 million
population have incomes less than the equivalent of US$2 per day.
The hotel and conference
centre is another project supported by King Mswati III, who rules Swaziland as
sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. He believes such buildings add to
the prestige of his kingdom and will make it a First World nation by 2022. He
already has an airport named in his honour that cost an estimated E2.5bn
to build but only has one airline
using it. King Mswati III International Airport has been described as a ‘white elephant’ and a ‘vanity project’ for the King.
Dlamini in his budget
speech on Thursday (1 March 2018) said the government would only spend on ‘the
most critical expenditure items’ this year. He acknowledged, ‘Government
sending continues to outpace its ability to raise enough revenues resulting in
cash flow challenges and accumulation of arrears.’
The hotel and convention
centre – popularly known as ICCFISH - is
under construction at Ezulwini. In 2013 when the plan for the development was announced the cost was estimated at E1bn. Completion of the
work was expected by 2016.
In September 2017 it was
reported that King Mswati had visited Las Vegas in the United States to try to
get the Caesars Palace company (famous for its hotel and
casino) to manage the ICCFISH.
‘The King’s Office
Correspondent’, writing at the time in the Swazi
Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by the King, reported Caesars Palace
management had promised to submit a proposal on what it would cost to manage
the ICC and hotel.
In 2013, when the plan for
building was announced the Swazi Observer reported, ‘The scope of the project include a
facility of international standards with a Swazi theme, a facility to handle up
to 4,500 delegates at a time, trade centre for high value exhibition, a secure
chamber room to take 53 heads of state, 3,500 seat banqueting hall,
restaurants, 1,500 seat theatre, and special holding rooms.’
The African Union summit is held twice a year in January and June but by tradition the first meeting is held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The African Union summit is held twice a year in January and June but by tradition the first meeting is held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
In 2016, King Mswati took
about E40m of public funds to host a lavish Southern African Development
Community (SADC) Heads of State summit at a time when his government was so
poor it could release only E22 million of the E305 million earmarked for
drought relief in that year’s national budget.
See also
KING’S DEAL WITH $18bn BANKRUPT
KING TO PARTY WHILE SWAZIS GO HUNGRY
https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/king-to-party-while-swazis-go-hungry.html
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