By Carthy Maulidi:
Not even clouds, which engulfed some parts of Lilongwe, including the Parliament Building, Tuesday could stop the budget from having a clear path.
And so, as the Deputy Speaker of Parliament Madalitso Kazombo did the inevitable at 13:10 hours, asking members of Parliament (MPs) whether they wanted the proposed national budget to be approved or not, the lawmakers could only speak in the affirmative.
That is how Parliament approved the 2024-25 K5.98 trillion budget, which they thoroughly scrutinised vote by vote, Tuesday.
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The budget was passed after the august House scrutinised it through a process called Committee of Supply, which started on Monday and ended at noon Tuesday.
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Kazombo’s question went: “[I propose] that the sum of Five Trillion, Nine Hundred Ninety- Eight Billion, Eight Hundred Thirty-Three Million, Six Hundred Fifty-Nine Thousand, Nine Hundred Twenty-Two Kwacha be appropriated to the Consolidated Recurrent and Capital Accounts for the purpose set out in the Recurrent and Capital Estimates. Those of that opinion say ‘Aye’ and those of the contrary opinion say ‘No’”
The MPs unanimously approved the budget and some, especially those from government benches, could be heard jubilantly saying: “We have done it!”
Among other things, the budget has doubled the allocation towards Constituency Development Fund from K100 million to K200 million.
In it, the Ministry of Health has been allocated a lion’s share, at K729.47 billion.
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The agriculture sector comes second, getting K497.75 billion, out of which K161.28 billion is meant for the Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP) while K12 billion is going to the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA), which has been tasked to purchase maize using that amount.
Yet still, K40 billion of the agriculture sector budget has been allocated to the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc), which is undergoing restructuring.
The transport and information communication technology sector has received K439.64 billion.
However, the national budget has a deficit of K1.4 trillion, with Finance Minister Simplex Chithyola Banda hoping to cover it through borrowing.
Speaking after the budget was approved, Chithyola Banda hailed lawmakers for “swiftly” approving it.
“I’m more than happy because, in record time, this is the first budget to be passed in less than one-and-a-half days. I’m extremely happy.
“I know that one of the major worries of the people is how we can bridge the funding deficit and how we can intensify the domestic revenue collection initiative. We have hope in Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA). They have always beaten targets and we believe that they will be able to meet the target and narrow the funding gap,” Chithyola Banda said.
In the budget, MRA has been given a target of K3.26 trillion.
Commenting on the issue of delays to disburse resources to government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAS), Chithyola Banda said the amount of funds disbursed would depend on the revenue collection’ pace.
“It’s true, some MDAs complain about funds disbursement delays but we have set measures to intensify revenue collection in order to deal with this challenge,” he said.
Opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) leader in Parliament Mary Navicha said the opposition had done its part in scrutinising the budget and that the remaining task is for government to implement what is in the budget.
“As the opposition side, we have done the needful. We have done our part and what is remaining is implementation of the budget on their side. We are expecting this budget to address issues that are affecting our people.
“Malawians are suffering and, for that matter, the President [Lazarus Chakwera] just declared a State of Disaster. It is, therefore, our hope that the budget will address all the challenges Malawians are facing,” Navicha said.
One of the country’s development partners, European Union Ambassador to Malawi Rune Skinnebach, described the 2024-25 national budget as an exciting one.
He said the national budget could, if well implemented, help the country meet some of its aspirations.
“This is a budget which will be an exciting one; it is a budget that is subject to many sorts of pressures. This is because Malawi has suffered a lot during the past years and it will have to remedy some of the suffering and, on the other hand, it is a condition from development partners to keep the budget on track for Malawi to keep on enjoying support from them.
“This, on paper, seems to be honored but it is one thing to be on paper while reality is yet another thing. We are approaching [time for] elections and we know the political pressure that would be there. So, now they have shown enormous courage in defining the plan and I hope they have the same courage to implement it,” Skinnebach said.
