MEMBERS of Parliament (MPs) yesterday overwhelmingly endorsed the Written Laws (miscellaneous amendments) Act, 2017 that, among other things, enables the government to present the report on the implementation of the budget every six months.
The bills, if signed into law, will give
enough time for the government to prepare reports on the implementation
of the budget and present them before Parliament for discussion and
assessment.
Tabling the bill, the Attorney General
(AG), Mr George Masaju, told MPs that the bill aims at bringing
efficiency in the implementation of the budget and that the new system
will give enough time for government officials to prepare realistic
reports.
The AG said the implementation of the
government budget depends on the collection of revenues from various
sources across the country and that quarterly presentation of the budget
report has been a big challenge to government officials.
“It has been difficult for the
government to receive budget implementation report every three months,
therefore, the best thing is to get these report every after six
months,” he said.
The AG added that the bill aims at
making amendments to Section 439 of the Budget Act, Cap 349 that
requires the government to present a budget implementation report every
three months.
“This system does not give enough time
for the government to prepare report on the implementation of the
budget, because it fails to get all required information from its
sources within stipulated short time,” said Mr Masaju.
The bill also aims at enabling the
Minister for Finance and Planning to present the report of expenditure
commitment every six months, contrary to the previous requirements of
presenting the report quarterly.
Moreover, the endorsed bill now enables
the government to present a mid-year statement on the budget. The bill
basically omits the quarterly statement of the government budget.
Earlier, MPs supported the bill saying
it aimed at improving the government performance in the implementa tion
of FY budgets. Nsimbo MP (CCM), Mr Richard Mbogo, said changing from
three to six months will enable the government to present a realistic
report to MPs and thus minimise queries among MPs.
Special Seats MP (Chadema), Dr
Immaculata Semesi Sware, advised the government to strengthen counting
systems for the implementation of budget. She said there is need for the
government to improve budget implementation system so as to fulfil its
goals and MPs expectations.
Mlalo MP (CCM), Mr Rashid Shangazi, said
South Korea is one of the countries that have benefitted from using the
six months system in the presentation of the budget implementation
report.
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