Although “Nally too Mpar” song is trending far better than the national budget, let us discuss it briefly.
By Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba wrote;
It’s “Nalitumpa” but to mask it, I have written it in English like we would write profanities to hide the grave impact of the unspeakable words or poke fun to the uninitiated!
Let’s go back to the Budget.
Minister of Finance Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane’s budget of 2022 and 2023 achieved little or nothing.
The 2023 will likely suffer the same fate.
The biggest crisis Zambia has is rising poverty levels, high unemployment rate, disease burden, and slow economic growth.
Currently the population is faced with the highest cost of living in decades and suffering high prices of essential foodstuffs, commodities and high energy bills.
There is failure or little improvement in critical sectors of health, educational l, social protection, and agricultural services.
Despite funding to the health sector, there is a persistent shortage of drugs, medical supplies, and laboratory re-agents. There is equipment and diagnostic machines failure.
What measures or mechanisms have been deployed to resolve these national crises?
For example ordinary workers will contribute K23 billion through Pay as You Earn (PAYE) tax while the mining sector that is generating billions of dollars a year, will pay K10billion only as Mineral Royalty Tax!
Now poor people will pay tax on every mobile money transaction, reducing incomes for the poor further.
Despite the fanfare and excitement that characterised the presentation of the 2023 Budget last year, look at its achievement;
■ The economy is projected to grow by 2.7 percent in 2023 compared to 5.2 percent in 2022.
■ Inflation has shot upwards to 12.0 percent in September 2023 from 9.9 percent in December 2022.
■ The Kwacha depreciated by 10.9 percent against the US dollar to K20.05 per US dollar between January and August this year.
A budget should be a tool to spur economic growth, attend to the needs of the people while fostering an environment to create jobs and opportunities, and develop infrastructure for the country.



