‘Government has no printers’

Commotion was short lived in parliament today when the 1.2 trillion kwacha 2016/17 proposed budget books were not yet printed at the start of the deliberations.

The legislators had to start deliberating on the budget which Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe presented on Friday.

But to their surprise, the books were not ready by 14:00 hour when the lawmakers were due to start their scrutiny on the budget, which the opposition claims is no reflecting the current economic stand of the nation.

The parliamentary committee responsible for the provision of the books had not done the good job by the time the August House resumed.

Parliamentary Finance Committee Chairperson Ryhno Chiphiko says the development was unwelcome and said the papers should have been made ready before the meeting started.

The opposition members were heard murmuring against delay and making fun of government saying it is broke.

It was after a whole lot of waiting that the papers were handed over to the parliamentarians but it was a little late already.

The legislators are slated to continue deliberating on the budget on Tuesday.

Among other things the budget reveals that the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) is expected to collect K748 billion for the 2016/17 budget something which is a blow to Malawians who are living on a economy which is sailing through troubled waters already.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development got the largest share  of MK198.5 billion kwacha.

While The Ministry of Education comes second and will get  MK147.6 billion and the  Ministry of Health is third and has been allocated MK95.8 billion kwacha.