Press release
Parliament to debate government
budget
By
Mohamed Osman Ibrahim --Somaliland
The House of Representatives is likely to
introduce drastic amendments to the
government’s budget bill when it come the floor for
debate next Monday.
Most of House members have already voiced criticism
against the bill as containing
fundamental flaws that must be addressed.
In a last week report to the House, the select committee
on Financial Affairs had
expressed concerns over a number of flaws in the budget
such as the lack of a
breakdown of government revenues to regional, district
and ministerial levels, the lack of
public account statements corresponding to the financial
information submitted to the
legislature and the unavailability of verifiable figures
on the numbers of government
employees and members of the security forces as well.
The committee noted a reluctance among officials of the
ministry of Finance to provide
information, coupled with an apparent lack of
professionalism among the leading staff.
Meanwhile, there is a strong suspicion among House
legislators that the government has
over the years been misleading the public about the size
of its revenues budget.
According to a number of financial experts familiar with
this government’s public
accounts, annual revenue budgets submitted to parliament
were often 40-50% less than
the achievable targets.
For instance the actual government revenues achieved in
the fiscal year 2003 was about
$22 million dollars in surplus of the budget estimate
submitted to the house as indicated
in a booklet published by the ministry of Planning. For
the year 2000 the difference
totaled roughly $8.5 million.
The revelations came amid reports that a number of
senior government officials bought
expensive properties abroad. Allegations have also been
mounting that some senior
officials have been systematically embezzling the
government of millions of dollars in
foreign exchange earnings.
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