Author: DEUS NGOWI
AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) has finally approved a Vote on Account of 19,697,574 US dollars (about 45.7bn/-) to support normal operations and to cater for expenses of the East African Community (EAC) in the first quarter of the 2020/2021 Financial Year.
Through its virtual meeting, EALA opined that the EAC Secretariat receives 9,095,178.88 US dollars, East African Legislative Assembly receives 5,295,062 US dollars, East African Court of Justice, 574,063 US dollars, the Lake Victoria Basin Commission, 941,717 US dollars and the East African Science and Technology Commission got 512,037 US dollars.
Furthermore, the East African Kiswahili Commission will get 305,482, East African Health Research Commission, 362,333 US dollars, while the East African Competition Authority is allocated 352,576 US dollars. Some 1, 89,257 US dollars is earmarked for the Inter University Council of East Africa while $305,482 is pegged for the activities of the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation.
Vote on Account is the special provision given to the government to obtain the vote of Parliament to withdraw money, when the budget for the new financial year is not released or the elections are underway, and the caretaker government is in place.
Prior to the allocation exercise, the Assembly received and debated on the report of the Chairman of Committee on General Purpose, Mr Denis Namara.
The report urged the EAC Secretary General and the Council of Ministers to comply with provisions of the Treaty and the EAC Budget Act 2008, in regards to the preparation and presentation of the budget to the House.
The Vote-on Account was preceded by a Resolution of the Assembly to constitute itself into a Committee of Supply to consider and approve it, in a first such activity for the EAC. The Committee observed that under the EAC Budget Act 2008, the Secretary General is by 15th October of each financial year, required to prepare the budget for the Community and to submit the same to the Council of Ministers for consideration.
Section 4 of the EAC Budget Act requires the Chairperson, Council of Ministers to present the EAC Budget to the Assembly by the 30th day of April, while the Assembly should pass the EAC Budget Estimates no later than June 30, each year.
Mr Namara informed the House that the Assembly would continue to stand firm to ensure all approved activities as envisaged in the annual calendar are undertaken in light of Article 14(3) (c) of the EAC Treaty.
Three weeks ago, the House proposed the Vote on Account goes for scrutiny by the Committee on General Purpose. EALA Speaker, Mr Ngoga Karoli Martin, then ruled the Vote on Account be handled urgently without any further delay, but with compliance to requirements/mechanisms set out under the EAC Budget Act, 2009. Under the said law on Vote on Account, the amount to be disbursed must not exceed one-third of the budget of the Community.
The State Minister of EAC, Rwanda and Chair to the Council of Ministers, Mr Nshuti Manasseh laid on the table the EAC Budget Estimates for the FY 2020/2021, the EAC Supplementary budget for the FY 2019/2020 and the EAC Vote on account for the first quarter of the FY 2020/2021.
The Assembly received budget estimates for the FY 2020/2021 amounting to 97,669,708 US dollars, prompting the speaker to forward the estimates to the Committee on General Purpose for perusal.
At the debate Ms Rose Akol said the presentation of budget needed to be in line with normal budgeting norms and procedures.
Dr Oburu Oginga said the debate on Vote on Account had taken unnecessarily long due to a number of issues, citing lack of presentation of the budget to the Assembly on time by the EAC Council of Ministers.
Ambassador Fatuma Ndangiza said while the EALA and other organs had in the past returned unqualified reports, there was need to embrace timeliness in way, manner and fashion of doing business to avoid consequences of delayed budgets.
Dr Woda Odok said there was need for stronger cooperation between all EAC organs and institutions, so that the budget making process is efficient.
Others who supported the report of the Committee on General Purpose on the approval of the Vote on Account were Ms Fatuma Ibrahim, Mr Paul Musamali, Mr Kennedy Mukulia, Mr Abdikadir Omar Aden, Mr Wanjiku Muhia, Mr Kennedy Kalonzo, Engineer Mohammed Mnyaa and Ms Fancy Nkuhi.
The EAC Secretary General, Ambassador Liberat Mfumukeko noted that they were compliant with the EAC Budget Act 2008 as well as the EAC Financial Rules and Regulations dictated how budget processing is done.
“We were compliant in terms of submitting the budget proposals as provided for by the Act. However, in March this year, some borders closed, owing to the pandemic, we followed the law by writing to the Assembly in time to request for extension. We could not hold the Council meeting in time, given the situation of the pandemic and the electioneering process in the partner states,” he said.
Last financial year, the Assembly approved a budget amounting to US$ 111,450,529 following budget proposals presented to the House in June, 2019 by the then Chairperson of the Council of Ministers and Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Co-operation of Tanzania, Dr Damas Ndumbaro.
