MEMBERS of Parliament (MPs) have reacted with cautious optimism and worries to the new National Development Plan 2017/18 that aims to transform the national economy, stressing some key sectors including agriculture were plainly omitted in the grand plan.
“There is no comprehensive plan to
revive the agriculture sector which is the largest employer and
contributor to the nation gross domestic product,” Innocent Bashungwa
(Karagwe- CCM) told reporters shortly after the plan was released here
yesterday.
The lawmaker said that limited
government attention to the key sectors, agriculture and livestock will
affect its plan to attain social transformation as the large population
is left out.
He said the government has only
indicated plans to increase budget funding to the Agriculture
Development Bank; however he noted there were no clear plans towards
supporting small holder farmers access agroinputs, vital to improve
productivity.
“A lot more has to be done to improve
processing industries if we are to focus on achieving middle income
status,” he added. Another MP, Ester Bulaya (Bunda- CCM), explained that
the new budget outlook of 31tri/- was very impressive but is facing
huge barriers.
Citing the five-year development plan
and the ending budget, the outspoken MP said the government managed to
outline positive plans but at the end of the day, “it fails to implement
accordingly.”
“I can assure you today, less than 50
per cent of the budget approved for 2016/17 financial year, has been
released to all government ministries and their departments,” she noted.
Ms Bulaya urged the government to adopt comprehensive strategies that
will ensure an industrial transformation and boost the economy. Mr
Andrew Chenge (Bariadi West- CCM) was optimistic that the new plan will
ferry the government into a middle income.
The legal expert acknowledged a little
has been done by the government on reviving agriculture sector
contribution in the country. Mbozi West legislator, David Silinde
(Chadema) said that the nation is still facing challenges on effective
implementation of its budgets. He cited the current budget which will
end on June 30, this year, noting that the government has so far
disbursed only 26 per cent of the funds allocated for development budget
while three months have remained to concluded the fiscal year.
"In this year’s budget, the government
proposed allocation of 40 per cent of the total budget for development
projects and the remaining 60 per cent for other activities but out of
the 40 per cent only 26 percent has been dished out for development
projects," the lawmaker said. The legislator was pessimistic that even
the implementation of the proposed budget and the national development
plan may not be successful because the government has failed to meet at
least 35 per cent of the development budget.
Kigoma Urban MP, Zitto Kabwe
(ACTWazalendo) said the implementation of the current budget will not be
successful because the government has failed to access 5tri/- as
concessional and commercial loans for financing various projects.
"This means that this year’s budget
which is expected to end on June 30, this year, is 24.5trn/- and not
29.5tri/- as approved by the Parliament ... the budget projections are
not realistic because if the government has failed to raise the
29.5tri/- how is it going to collect 31.7trn/- for the next budget,"
Zitto said.
Chairperson for Parliamentary Public
Accounts Committee, Ms Naghenjwa Kaboyoka,( Same- East -Chadema)
challenged the government to find own sources of financing its budget.
"It will be difficult for the country to become a middle income nation
if the government will continue to rely on donors in financing
development projects," she said.
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