MCP’s Jumbe says budget not helping Malawi agriculture

Member of Parliament (MP) for Salima Central Felix Jumbe on Tuesday turned fellow Parliamentarians to laughter when he titled the 2015-2016 Budget which was presented in the House by the Minister of Finance Dr. Goodall Gondwe as ‘a thorn in the fresh of Malawians.’

Jumbe said this in Lilongwe when he was contributing to the budget and said since the Finance Minister presented the budget without a title, he thought of giving a befitting title.

According to Jumbe since the day that the Finance Minister presented the budget to the House there have been mixed reactions from people which are positive and negative as well.

He noted with concern that Government has not considered uplifting the poor but rather widen the gap that exist between the rich and the poor.

Said Jumbe; “Let me first of all thank the Minister of Finance for ably presenting the 2015-2016 budget which is pegged at K902 billion.

“After critically analysing this year’s budget, I have noted that the budget severely put down and put in a reverse gear the agriculture sector of Malawi.”

According to Jumbe, this year’s budget is not investing enough into the future for it has no muscle to invest in the future.

“It is clear that it was not built to cater for the young population, such that the resource envelope is diminished. Total Revenue is expected to be at 22.2 per cent this year from 24.2 percent in the last year’s budget,” Jumbe said.

Commenting on crop estimates, he said crop estimates have also gone down from the previous years.

“Key cash crops will see its production lower than the last years, for example maize has decreased with 28 per cent, in the same way, tobacco has also decreased from 181 metric tons of last year to 150 metric tons this year which represents a five per cent decrease of total foreign exchange earnings,” he said.

On his part Divelias Zaipa MP for Mchinji South Constituency concurred with Jumbe saying the budget has nothing to offer for the poor Malawians.

“It is pathetic to see government reducing money on subsidy which is increasing the gap between the rich and the poor. It will be just if the Minister of Finance reduce the amount of money which has been put for the President so that the money is put to benefit the poor,” said Zaipa.

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