GOVT DECLARES NATIONAL DISASTER

MBABANE – Two years since the start of the drought, government has finally declared the situation a national disaster and national emergency.

This was done by Prime Minister (PM) Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini yesterday, where he stated that over the next two months, government would need E248 million and said as early as next week Minister of Finance Martin Dlamini would propose to Parliament for allocation of part of the needed money.

In total, government will need about E2 billion to address the situation in five years.
The PM said it was now necessary to declare the drought a national emergency and in accordance with the provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2006, in particular Section 29.

Dlamini said a further contribution of E300 million for meeting the projected emergency needs would be included in the 2016-2017 budget, where government would again seek Parliament’s approval.
The PM said this was very much in common with how government established the necessary response to the devastating onset of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the country, stating that all citizens needed to adopt the approach of being at war with a national enemy.

Through a legal document, which the PM signed yesterday, he said after having assessed the situation, it was only fitting that it be classified as a national disaster and declare a national emergency in Swaziland with immediate effect until April 17, 2016.
Dlamini said although the legal notice was for two months, government would continue to implement the plan, stating that the law only allowed that a national emergency be announced for two months.

Finance Minister Dlamini is expected to, next week, propose to Parliament that a sum of E105 million be allocated in order to enhance programmes across the sectors of agriculture, water, energy, health, education, social security and sanitation.
The PM added that he trusted that the additional contribution would be duly recognised as they pursued urgently the task of sourcing the remaining shortfall of E143 million in the current 2015/16 financial year.

He said as a result, government had come up with a national plan for the next five years and this would be the National Emergency Response Mitigation and Adaptation (NERMAP), which had been developed by a joint government team, working with the recently established National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA).

He said for the implementation of NERMAP (January 2016 to March 2022), the total estimated additional requirement would be E1.4 billion.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: