By Mbono Mdluli | 2018-03-09
Government is said to have spent E29 million in buying cars for the 2016 edition of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit.
This was said by Manzini North Member of Parliament (MP) Jan Sithole, during a budget debate for the ministry of finance. The debate was done by members of the portfolio committee of the ministry of finance.
Minister for Finance Martin Dlamini and his officials from the ministry were part of the debate.
Sithole said this was one way of showing how government was reckless in its spending, yet it was quick to dig deeper into the pockets of Swazis in its quest to generate revenue for the country. Sithole reminded Minister Dlamini that it was parliament that tried to stop the ministry from buying cars just for the event.
“We warned the minister against buying the cars because that would not make sense. It was much better to rent the cars because the event was to last for only a month. The minister could not listen to us, hence government decided to spend E29 million in buying the cars. Now the cars are parked and no one has shown interest in buying them,” Sithole said.
The MP further advised government to start by reigning in on the loopholes that increased government’s expenditure. Some of these expenses, according to Sithole, were wasteful, hence they dried up the coffers of the government. That was the reason government would resort into taxing Swazis to the bone just to recover the wasted funds.
The Manzini north MP further stated that the country continued to waste public funds on international trips, which would be undertaken by His Majesty King Mswati III. He said there was no reason for the King to travel with a huge delegation because that constituted reckless spending by people who had no work to do there. The King could only travel with not many people, including relevant ministers.
Minister Martin Dlamini will give answers on the matter next week Tuesday.
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