TRADITIONAL chiefs have expressed concern over failure by Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa to release a single cent in 2015 for their vehicle loan scheme.
BY VENERANDA LANGA
President of the Chiefs’ Council, Fortune Charumbira, brought up the issue in Senate before it adjourned on December 17, saying lack of disbursements of amounts allocated to chiefs in the budget showed lack of reverence for their institution.
“Let me remind you that in the year 2015, you (Chinamasa) had allocated $3,5 million for the vehicle loan scheme yet you did not release a single cent,” Charumbira said.
“For 2016, you have allocated a lower figure ($2,5 million), and I do not see the logic why you think the vehicles will be cheaper next year than they were in 2015.”
He said while allocations were made, nothing was ever released, adding it seemed as if chiefs were the only institution where money was never released for their upkeep, even though the budget purported to cater for them.
“I think that is one item in the whole budget where not a cent was released. Does that reflect the attitude of Treasury towards the institution of traditional leadership, or there were other problems?”
Charumbira said the $3,6 million that was allocated to the Chiefs’ Council was not enough to cater for the allowances and vehicles for chiefs in 2016.
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“I think we need to sit down in the spirit of Section 325 of the Constitution, which says the Chiefs’ Council should make direct representations on issues of the budget,” he said.
He also said the $8 million allocated to the Ministry of Rural Development and Preservation of Culture and Heritage was misplaced and should have been allocated to the Chiefs’ Council.
But Chinamasa defended his allocation, saying the fact that there were no releases, was because there was no money.
“It is because there is nothing in the pipeline to release. I crave your understanding. The notion that I have a pocket somewhere, where I can just ‘nokora’ (take) money and pay is not true because we have a multicurrency regime and we do not have a monetary policy worth talking about,” Chinamasa said in response.
He said since the country currently did not have its own currency, it was impossible to print money.
“Our stock of United States dollars in the country is derived from what we get from taxes and if the economy is not performing well, it adversely affects collection of revenue,” Chinamasa said.
He said other sources of US dollars in the country were Diaspora remittances, exports and loans, which were all going towards capital development like power plants, leaving nothing for other requirements like chiefs’ vehicle loans.
