Members of Parliament in
Swaziland have
sent the national budget back to be reviewed because they say it
does not meet the needs of poor people and rural communities.
The budget announced on
Thursday (1 March 2018) included an increase
in Value Added Tax by 1 percent to 15 percent and a review to impose VAT on
electricity prices for the first time. Electricity tariffs are already due to
increase by 15 percent on 1 April 2018.
MPs also said that the
budget did not adequately finance Micro Projects and the Regional Development
Fund (RDF).
The Swazi
Observer reported on Tuesday
(6 March 2018), ‘The legislators agreed that the Minister of Finance should go
back and review the budget together with the House of Assembly Finance
Sessional Committee and the House of Assembly Finance Portfolio Committee. The
reviewed budget is expected to be tabled by the minister tomorrow in the House
of Assembly.’
The call for review is not
unusual in Swaziland. Last year members of the House of Assembly initially
rejected the budget, but then Swaziland’s unelected Prime Minister Barnabas
Dlamini forced them to overturn their decision.
He 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.
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 at
the time 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’.
In 2017, Swaziland scored only three points out of 100
in a global review of its budget in the Transparency
Open Budget Survey produced by the International Budget Partnership (IBP).
While Swaziland scored three points, neighbouring
South Africa scored 89. In an 80-page report IBP revealed that the Swaziland
legislature provides weak oversight of the budget.
IBP said the Swazi parliament was unable to discuss
the budget properly because it was not provided with sufficient information. It
said the government’s budget proposal should be available two months before the
start of the budget year.
See also
HOSTILE REACTION TO VAT INCREASE
BUILDING
HOTEL A BUDGET PRIORITY
CABINET
DEFIES KING OVER BUDGET
SWAZI
BUDGET GIVES PM NEW HOUSE
SWAZI MPs REJECT NATIONAL BUDGET
KINGDOM
GETS 3/100 ON BUDGET TRANSPARENCY
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