By ADRIAN MWANZA
THE budget presented by Finance minister Situmbeko Musokotwane was a mere motivational speech aimed at exciting people, Pambashe Member of Parliament Ronald Chitotela has said.
Lunte MP, Mutotwe Kafwaya has also wondered where the Government will get the money to fund the budget.
Mr Chitotela said he wondered whether the budget would be implemented because the figures being projected by the Finance minister were not viable.
He said the budget presented was already 43% in deficit and that they were busy shouting that the PF budget spent 52% on consumption.
Mr Chitotela said technically it was not possible for Government to employ 30,000 teachers at a go and that they would probably just employ about 5000 teachers.
‘’The problem is that Zambians do not like to take keen interest in such issues, so they will not even follow through to confirm if they will manage to employ that number,’’ he said.
He said the increase in the Community Development Fund (CDF) to K25.7 million was a good move but that it had crippled other institutions like RDA which would remain as a white elephant because the funding was not sufficient.
“In the past, RDA used to get about K12 billion but that they were now only getting K4 billion when they had debts amounting to K14 billion,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Kafwaya who is former Transport and Communication Minister said the announced budget would result in the Government to borrowing heavily.
“Much as the announced national budget sounds ambitious, the Minister of Finance failed to tell us where they will get the money from to sustain it. As a matter of fact, this Government will borrow more than the PF administration did,” Mr Kafwaya said.
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