News / National
'Government expenditure for November was illegal' says Tsvangirai
30 Dec 2013 at 08:26hrs | Views
Former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said government expenditure for November was illegal as it was not approved by the eighth Parliament
Presenting his end-of-the-year address at Harvest House, the party's headquarters, last week, Tsvangirai accused the government of operating illegally.
Tsvangirai said the government did not have the mandate to operate without a budget authorised by the Parliament.
"In effect all the expenses that government incurred in the past month are illegal, the house did not approve them," he said.
"The belated national budget was only presented yesterday which means that all transactions done by the government done in the past one month were illegal because that expenditure was not approved by Parliament," Tsvangirai told the press briefing.
Provisionally, all government expenses must be approved by the august seating, an economic analyst told the Daily News yesterday.
"They may have made provisions for the government to function without an authorised budget, however, these provisions were not published, so as far as we all know, these expenses are indeed, illegal," Isis Mwale said.
The last budget, presented by former Finance minister Tendai Biti was presented last year in November.
This means that from the last date the budget was presented to the date that Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa presented his budget the country operated without a budget.
Both houses of Parliament were forced to adjourn until January 29, 2014, because the government is broke and running on a shoestring budget.
Chinamasa presented a $4,1 billion budget that experts said failed to inspire confidence and which the minister admitted was policy based and grossly short on funding.
Of the $4 billion, $3,5 billion will go towards recurrent expenditure, crowding out pressing needs, to do with economic revival.
Presenting his end-of-the-year address at Harvest House, the party's headquarters, last week, Tsvangirai accused the government of operating illegally.
Tsvangirai said the government did not have the mandate to operate without a budget authorised by the Parliament.
"In effect all the expenses that government incurred in the past month are illegal, the house did not approve them," he said.
"The belated national budget was only presented yesterday which means that all transactions done by the government done in the past one month were illegal because that expenditure was not approved by Parliament," Tsvangirai told the press briefing.
Provisionally, all government expenses must be approved by the august seating, an economic analyst told the Daily News yesterday.
"They may have made provisions for the government to function without an authorised budget, however, these provisions were not published, so as far as we all know, these expenses are indeed, illegal," Isis Mwale said.
The last budget, presented by former Finance minister Tendai Biti was presented last year in November.
This means that from the last date the budget was presented to the date that Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa presented his budget the country operated without a budget.
Both houses of Parliament were forced to adjourn until January 29, 2014, because the government is broke and running on a shoestring budget.
Chinamasa presented a $4,1 billion budget that experts said failed to inspire confidence and which the minister admitted was policy based and grossly short on funding.
Of the $4 billion, $3,5 billion will go towards recurrent expenditure, crowding out pressing needs, to do with economic revival.
Source - Daily News
