Committees threaten to shoot down budget
Some committees of Parliament are ganging up to reject the K2.84 trillion 2022/23 proposed National Budget if government will not adequately fund the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) to revive its social and commercial functions.
Last week, Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture chairperson Sameer Suleman vowed to influence members of Parliament to reject the budget if Admarc will not be adequately funded in line with its turnaround strategy.
Again, on Wednesday, when Admarc officials appeared before the Committee on Natural Resources and Climate Change, its chairperson Werani Chilenga warned that legislators will not approve the budget until government provides money to revive Admarc.
He said government changed the financial year calendar from starting in July to begin in April because it partly wanted Admarc to be funded to start buying crops from farmers at the right time.
Chilenga said: “It’s only Admarc that is serving farmers in all constituencies; there is no other institution that buys crops from remote areas.
“So, we cannot allow government not to fund Admarc to buy produce from farmers, otherwise we will not pass the agriculture budget, let alone the entire budget.”
The committee sent back Admarc officials to allow them engage Treasury on their budgetary needs.
Chilenga said the committees are infuriated because in the 2021/22 Budget, the former minister of Finance Felix Mlusu told Parliament that Admarc would be given K95 billion, but that never happened until now when the financial year is closing.
Among other things, the committees want Admarc to be given funds to procure fertiliser directly from external producers.
In an interview, Admarc general manager Rhino Chiphiko said they were disappointed that ministries of Agriculture and Finance were not agreeing on the submitted financial proposal.
“The shopping list we gave them has three and five years implementation periods of our funding requirements,” he said.
Chiphiko also said they urgently need K23 billion that government owes Admarc to pay salaries for workers, transporters, service providers and operational expenses.
Agricultural policy and development expert Tamani Nkhono-Mvula said in an interview on Thursday that committees of Parliament are not legally justified to lobby for Admarc funding, but on moral and humanitarian grounds, their move is justified.
He backed the need for Admarc to start buying fertiliser directly from suppliers, saying this was the trend in the past.
