Parliament yesterday passed the revised K8.589 trillion Mid-Term Budget without any amendments to the allocation estimates. Initially, some opposition members of Parliament (MPs) had questioned some votes such as the increased allocation for State Residences from K67.32 billion to K89.96 billion. However, both the government and opposition supported the revised estimates for every vote and the budget has been increased from K8.077 trillion to K8.589 trillion.
Minister of Finance Joseph Mwanamvekha commended the House for passing the budget, and he assured Malawians that government will implement the revised budget. He said government will also ensure that it collects enough revenue to support the budget. “It’s very important that we got the approval.
It means we should be able to operate efficiently for the last six months of the fiscal year,” said Mwanamvekha. During the debate, the minister justified all the budgetray allocations, including the additional K512.6 billion, which he said aims to provide resources for institutions that had depleted their annual allocations by mid-year, including the State Residences and the Office of the Vice President. Said Mwanamvekha: “Government is providing additional resources of about K196 billion to clear backlog on gratuities for retirees; we are providing additional resources of about K129.6 billion for Farm Inputs Subsidy Programme following increase in number of beneficiaries from 528 020 to 1.1million.
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“We are providing additional resources of about K100 billion for public debt interest. We are also providing additional resources of about K98.5 billion for wages and salaries. We are also providing an additional K50 billion for elections including by-elections.” The minister said the K67 billion that was allocated to State House was finished in five months and the former government borrowed more.
He said: “What has happened in Malawi, has never happened, actually it is criminal. If you go to State House today you will find TVs have been broken, chairs have been broken, wallpaper has been removed, to the extent of putting faeces. “In short, we are spending this additional K20 billion to take care of the reckless expenditure that happened at State House and also the damage that the staff at State House had made.” The minister further stated that where necessary, government will provide more resources to relevant institutions to ensure that those who embezzled resources are taken to book.
He said the arrests will not be witch-hunting but ensuring that those who abused public resources are taken to task. Dedza Kasina MP Joshua Malango questioned the increase of about K22 billion in the State Residences budget, saying government needed to account for what was happening at the State Residences to warrant the increase.
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