Ministry of Finance irks parliamentary committee
The Ministry of Finance on Monday failed to turn up for a scheduled meeting with the Budget and Finance Committee of Parliament to give an update on theft of billions of public funds at Capital Hill.
The committee wanted to know how the development had impacted on the implementation of the first half of the 2013/14 National Budget.
The committee also wanted to know from the ministry the progress on the revised budget which the donors and the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) has advised government to develop in the face of delays in disbursement of donor budget support amounting to K20 billion.
Committee chairperson Francis Kasaila said officials from the ministry only informed the committee on Mondaynight that they would not make it to the meeting.
He said: “The reasons they have given us are not good enough. We wrote requesting this meeting on November 26 [2013] and we expected a response by the following day, at least. It is the committee’s mandate to be consulted on every step of the budget.”
The committee has since rescheduled the meeting with the ministry for next week Wednesday, specifically for the consultations on the review of the budget.
The committee also bemoaned the fact that the IMF mission which was in the country last month failed to meet with them at a crucial time when any decision on the budget would need its input.
“Now we hear after the meeting with IMF, a budget framework was presented and this is being approved by the international community not Malawians. The committee is in the dark,” said Kasaila.
Since investigations into the looting started, government has not disclosed how much money has been lost from the budgets of various ministries.
Ministry of Finance spokesperson Nations Msowoya was not immediately available for comment.
