BY ADRIAN MWANZA
National Democratic Congress (NDC) president Saboi Imboela has said chances that the 2022 National Budget is going to be a flop are high because most key ministries did not have controlling officers.
Ms Imboela in an interview said ministries like Agriculture did not have permanent secretaries who were key individuals in the running of government.
She said due to this, the chances of them implementing a budget that catered for the needs of Zambians were very slim.
Ms Imboela was skeptical that the new Finance minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane would deliver a good budget because of the void that was left by the axed permanent secretaries.
“For me, I have some reservations about the budget because the President fired controlling officers some time back without replacing which will have a negative impact in the long run,” she said.
She nevertheless hoped that the minister would give more prominence to gender despite the ministry being disbanded , and complained that it had received very minimal funding from the previous government.
Ms Imboela said that funding to the ministry of Health as well needed to be increased because most people in rural areas were facing serious challenges.
“Can you imagine that it is a risk to be pregnant in rural areas because most people have to trek long distances to ensure that they get quality health care,’’ she said.
Ms Imboela said the axing and not replacing Permanent Secretaries would have negative impact on the budget.
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