Faced with the threat of a possible rejection of the 2012/13 Budget,
the government beat a hasty retreat yesterday and formed a special committee to
review the proposals and make changes to bring it in line with the five-year
development plan.
The Citizen has reliably learnt that Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda
formed the committee of six ministers after it became apparent that the
government side was up against strong opposition.
This came on the heels of an earlier government move to change the
budget approval system that allows the passing of the Finance Bill at the end
of the budget meeting in August. This would allow for a major overhaul of the
budget speech and various ministerial budgets that would then be tabled in two
months’ time.
This is intended to rectify an anomaly whereby, after passage of the
main budget, any proposed changes related to ministerial budgets arising from
debates on the main one were literally left hanging as incorporating them in
the already endorsed budget would be a
breach of procedure.
This meant, then, that the proposals would be kept pending
for debate and probable inclusion in the subsequent budget the following
year.
The changes came against the backdrop of heavy criticism from MPs, who
said the Budget had failed to reflect the requirements of the development plans
they endorsed last year.
Making the announcement after the question-and-answer session, Speaker
Anna Makinda said the changes to the Finance Bill would enable the government
to take into consideration contributions by MPs and various parliamentary
committees and improve the main budget before debate on it is concluded on
Friday.
If Parliament did not approve the Finance Bill by June 30, she said,
the government would, in the normal course of events, have no legal basis to
collect taxes. But a review of existing laws and regulations appears to have
established that there were other means for the government to collect revenue
beyond the Finance Act.
Ms Makinda added: “After reviewing the activities of Commonwealth
parliaments, we have established that they usually pass the Finance Bill at the
end of the budget session. The only difference is that they start their
sessions early and finish them before June 30 to enable the new law to be used
by the government when the new financial year starts on July 1 each year.”
The new system means the debate will run for five days instead of four
and the budget will be passed the same day. The system was adopted in order to
give the government time to incorporate the views of MPs and committees and
make appropriate changes.
According to the information by The Citizen yesterday the immediate
task of the Prime Minister’s team is to rescue this budget. The team will also
help in drafting the 2013/14 Budget. Among other things, the team of six
ministers is required to come up with new revenue sources to be used to boost
government coffers.
The government wants to raise more money to compensate for taxes that
will be scrapped following criticism by the Parliamentary Committee on Finance,
the shadow minister for Finance and other MPs who have debated the budget so
far.
Some of the taxes likely to go,
according to sources who preferred anonymity, include the airtime levy, which
has been increased by two perc ent from 10 per cent.
Measures to adjust various
taxes are expected to be announced tomorrow, when Finance Minister William
Mgimwa winds up the budget speech to pave the way for the appropriation
committee before lawmakers vote for the Budget.
Other charges which will be dropped include proposed levies on people
who conduct motorcycle business, popularly known as bodaboda.
Members of the Prime Minister’s team, which conducted its first meeting
on Tuesday include Dr Mgimwa, the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s
Office (Policy, Coordination and Parliament) Mr William Lukuvi, and the
Minister for East Africa Cooperation, Mr Samuel Sitta.
Other members of the team, which was formed during the Cabinet working
meeting conducted here last Saturday, are deputy Minister for Communications,
Science and Technology, Mr Januari Makamba, Deputy Minister for Food Security,
Agriculture and Cooperatives, Mr Adam Malima and the deputy minister for Home
Affairs, Mr Pereira Ame Silima. Before this new portfolio, Mr Silima served as
deputy minister for finance.
Since the Budget debate started on Monday, MPs have been criticising
the government for diverting from the requirements of the five-year development
plan adopted last year.
Among other things, the plan directs that share of the development
budget should not be less than 35 per cent of the entire budget and that not
less than Sh2.7 trillion of it should be from local revenue.
Source: The Citizen,http://www.thecitizen.co.tz, reported by Neville Meena and Peter Nyanje
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