It’s D-Day for new system as House budget sitting begins

By Veneranda SumilaThe Citizen ReporterDodoma. The newly adopted budget system is set to face a critical test even as Parliament begins its marathon sitting today. The House has finally managed to set a timetable that will enable the appropriation bill, finance bill and the main government budget to be concluded before the start of the new financial year.

In order to formalise the new budget process, Parliament will today review and modify its standing orders and regulations in order to provide for changes in House sessions.

The tentative time table for the marathon budget sitting which was released here yesterday by Parliament’s assistant director of information, Mr Deogratius Egidio, shows that the 11th House meeting would begin today and end on June 28, this year. “Parliament has set aside 83 days during which 24 ministries will table their budgets,” he told reporters during a formal briefing yesterday evening.

Under the old system, the budget was normally tabled in June, during a sitting that would run to early August. It commenced with the main government budget with estimates for individual ministries coming later.As opposed to the old system, this year the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) will be the curtain raiser tomorrow. The PMO budget, which involves three ministries, will be debated for five days before being concluded next Tuesday.According to Mr Egidio, the main national budget will be the last plan to be tabled and discussed.

“The main budget will be tabled on June 13, this year, alongside other East African countries. It will be discussed for seven days after which Parliament will debate the appropriation and finance bills to cap the budget sitting,” he explained.

Mr Egidio said individual ministries would complete their budgets on June 6, with the Finance ministry bringing down the curtains. This will be followed with a seven-day recess during which the government would be consulting with the newly-formed Budget Committee in order to take into consideration all views aired by MPs during debates on individual ministry plans. “The consultation will enable for the inclusion of all proposals which are deemed important in the main budget… in the old system, this was not possible because the individual budgets were debated after the main one,” he noted.

However, due to changes in the budget sitting, the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) report would only be tabled but not be debated. Responding to a question from The Citizen, Mr Egidio noted that no time has been allocated for debate on the CAG report which usually provides detailed information on the implementation of the budget.Each year, the CAG report reveals massive misappropriation of government funds. The report has already been handed to President Jakaya Kikwete as required by the law and it will be tabled in Parliament on April 12, this year.