By SIFISO DLAMINI | 2024-11-05

IN just seven months, government has spent E118 million in external trips.
This was revealed by Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg in the House of Assembly yesterday during his ministry’s debate of the second quarter performance report.

He justified the expenditure, stating that the meetings mostly attended by ministers were important.

Rijkenberg added that in fact, government had budgeted E375 million for external travel this financial year.

“About E118 million of the E375 million has been spent to date,” he said, much to the dismay of legislators who took turns voicing their opinion and disappointment on such an expenditure.
The members of parliament (MPs) said external trips were draining the public purse.

The legislators also questioned whether the large delegations which formed part of international trips were necessary and not a cost to government.

Over the past year, there have been reports of some delegates receiving up to E500 000 on allowances, which raised concerns from members of the public.

Rijkenberg defended the expenditure, saying such trips were a necessity.
Kubuta MP Masiphula Mamba was the first to raise his concern.

He requested the minister of finance to state the exact figure that had been spent by government on external trips this year, as well as the number of people that embarked on same.

The MP further questioned the value that such trips add to government and the country.
"We have observed that during external trips, cabinet ministers were accompanied by a large entourage. What exactly do all these people do and what value do they add?" asked the MP.

He explained that the reason he asked the minister was that as MPs, they were questioned by the electorate who felt there was no need to spend millions of public funds on travelling costs for people who do not add any value by undertaking the external trips.

circulating
He said there was no money circulating in the country yet there was a lot spent in other countries as travel allowance yet there was no benefit at the end.

Mamba said it was important for the minister to justify the expenditure, pointing out that the electorate felt that public funds were unjustly spent on external trips.

The legislator also questioned the reason behind funding trips for security personnel yet such services could be provided by the country visited.

He pointed out that in most instances, only the ministers were invited to the meetings, however, they then made it a point to include a large number of people to be part of their entourage.

The MP said the money spent on accommodation and plane tickets for the entourage could be utilised locally on other projects.“Improving the local economic activity should be the main priority to ensure that Emaswati feel the money in their pockets,” said Mamba.

He said his main concern was that there was little to no funds benefiting the public directly, instead a large portion of the budget was spent on unnecessary external trips and capital projects that turned out to be white elephants.

He said when reporting the ministry’s activities and expenditure, he should provide a detailed explanation justifying the utilisation of the funds. He was seconded by Nkilongo MP Petros Sibandze who also said the trips were draining the public purse.

He urged the minister to consider saving funds by limiting the number of people who accompanied cabinet ministers on their trips.

Junior officers phase two not our fault- Ministry of Finance

MINISTER of Finance Neal Rijkenberg says the implementation of the junior officers’ phase two salary restructuring was out of his hands.

He said as a ministry, they could only do as they were instructed by the relevant ministries. He was responding to a question posed by Mayiwane MP Sicelo Prince Dlamini who once again enquired what caused the delay in implementing the salary restructuring.

He said the difference in salaries for junior and senior security officers was glaring, thus must be addressed.

Rijkenberg acknowledged that this was a sensitive topic but as the ministry of finance, they could only do what Cabinet, Parliament and ministries instructed them to do.

He said at some point, there was a request from the ministry of public service to pay an extra four per cent cost of living adjustment (CoLA) and they complied because it was a decision that was taken by the ministry through Cabinet. “We can only do what we are instructed to do.”

 

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