Times Of Swaziland: SENATORS SLAM MPS OVER  EDUCATION BUDGET DELAY

SENATORS SLAM MPS OVER  EDUCATION BUDGET DELAY
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Phiwase Phungwayo on 25/03/2021 08:31:00


MBABANE – Senators have punched holes in Members of Parliament (MPs) stalling
the passing of the 2020/2021 budget.
On Tuesday, the MPs declared that they were not prepared to pass the budget
until Minister of Education and Training Lady Mabuza had made a ministerial
statement on the suspension of payment of school fees for 2020. The minister
later released a statement, suspending the payment of school fees during a press
conference in her office. Meanwhile, yesterday when the senators had a sitting,
they were informed by Senate President Lindiwe Dlamini that it was adjourned.
The Senate president explained that it would resume today at 2:30pm. She further
stated that Senate portfolio committees would have about eight sittings per day,
to speed up the process since there was not enough time for debates.  This then
sparked a debate among some senators, who raised that the MPs were not right to
delay the passing of the budget as this would affect emaSwati.
Pity
They also raised that it was a pity that there could not be a joint sitting with
the House of Assembly to deliberate and correct each other. Senator Mkhululi
Dlamini said both chambers of Parliament (Senate and House of Assembly) were not
a mistake. “They were established so that when things go wrong on one side,
there could be other eyes to see. So now that we will not have the chance to
engage with the other chamber, it means the other chamber does not exist,”
Dlamini said. He said if the president had said they would be having eight
committee sessions per day, it was impossible as they would be deadbeat by the
time they reached the fourth meeting.
“Yes, constitutionally the House of Assembly has powers, but we also have
powers in that we can apply ourselves in certain things,” he said. Dlamini
expressed that perhaps there could be an explanation from the finance minister
on what was the issue that had caused the stalling of the budget to be passed.
The senator added that the Senate president had also informed them that their
sitting was adjourned. “But we used the emaSwati money for fuel to get here.
People will say we are wasting public funds,” he said.
Joke
Senator ‘Vuka Moi Moi’ Masilela submitted that what the MPs had done was a
‘joke’ and they were offside because this was a matter of national interest.
“If they will leave the budget and talk about other matters, what does the
speaker say? This is a national budget and it is a pity that we can’t have a
joint meeting with them (MPs) to tell them that this is a nation, not a
playground or beer hole,” Masilela said. He said the MPs were chosen by
constituency members to work and not to play around. He said it was a pity that
the acting prime minister was not present to explain what game the MPs were
playing.
“It is said they (MPs) have powers, what powers? We are saddened because we
don’t know what to do. There is a need to meet with them,” the senator said.
Senator Prince Hlangabeza was of the view that there should be no bickering
among the parliamentarians. “We should not point each other in the eyes. If we
all work for the nation, we can achieve something. Asking each others’ powers
will not help us anywhere,” the senator said. He elaborated that they should
all humble themselves and work together for a common goal, which was to build
the nation.