BILL WATCH

PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES SERIES 41/2015

[11th December 2015]

Post-Budget Analysis: Consultative Meetings Open to Public

The next step in Parliament’s post-Budget programme is for National Assembly Portfolio Committees to meet on Monday 14th December in consultative meetings during which each committee will hear submissions from Ministry officials and key stakeholders on the effect of the 2016 Budget and Estimates of Expenditure on the Ministries and other entities it monitors. 

These meetings will be open to the public – as observers only, not as participants – and this bulletin sets out the programme [see below] for the information of those members of the public who wish to attend these meetings as observers.

Following Monday’s consultative meetings, all committees will hold closed meetings on Tuesday morning at which they will formulate reports to be presented by their chairpersons when debate on the Budget resumes on Wednesday 16th December.

This tight programme takes account of the need for the National Assembly and the Senate to sit on the afternoon of Tuesday 15th December to deal with non-Budget business such as Bills [see Bill Watch 59/2015 due out later today].

Information for members of the public wishing to attend  The meetings are all in the Parliament building in Harare.  If attending, please use the entrance to Parliament situated on Kwame Nkrumah Ave between 2nd and 3rd Streets.  Please note that IDs must be produced.

Note: MPs have already had the Budget unpacked for them at their Post-Budget Seminar, held on 8th December,  When opening proceedings the Speaker remarked on the inconsistency between the Budget forecast of 2.7% growth in GDP and ZimAsset’s call for 7.3% growth, and urged MPs to subject the Budget to serious examination rather than simply fast-tracking it.  Experts taking part in the seminar included economist Godfrey Kanyenze; Pamela Mhlanga, Director of the‎ Zimbabwe Women's Resource Centre and Network; Rameck Masaire, accountant and tax expert from Ernst and Young; and Joseph Mverecha of Agribank.

Programme: Consultative Meetings Open to the Public

These meetings will be in two segments: ten meetings starting at 10 am on Monday morning, and nine at 2 pm on Monday afternoon, as set out below.  [Please note that the Portfolio Committees are listed in alphabetical order.]

Monday 14th November at 10 am

Defence, Home Affairs and Security Services

Committee Room No. 2

Environment, Water, Tourism and Hospitality Industry

Government Caucus Room

Finance and Economic Development

National Assembly Chamber

Higher Education, Science and Technology

Committee Room No. 3

Information Technology, Postal and Courier Services

Members Lobby

Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs

Committee Room No. 416

Media, Information and Broadcasting Services

Committee Room No. 1

Mines and Energy

Senate Chamber

Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare

Committee Room No. 4

Transport and Infrastructure Development

Committee Room No. 311

Monday 14th November at 2 pm

[Portfolio Committees are listed in alphabetical order by name]

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture

Committee Room No. 413

Foreign Affairs

Government Caucus Room

Health and Child Care

Committee Room No. 1

Industry and Commerce

Committee Room No. 3

Lands, Agriculture Mechanisation and Irrigation 

Senate Chamber

Local Government, Rural and Urban Development

National Assembly Chamber

Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperative Development

Committee Room No. 2

Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development

Committee Room No. 311

Youth, Indigenization and Economic Empowerment

Committee Room No. 4

Budget documents Available from Veritas

The following documents were tabled by the Minister at the conclusion of his Budget Presentation. 

- Estimates of Expenditure for the year ending 31st December 2016

- 2016 National Budget Statement [full version]

- “Departmental Draft” of the Finance Bill [i.e., the Ministry’s draft of a Bill to give effect to changes to taxation laws proposed in the Budget Statement – this draft will be replaced by the final legal draft that will be presented at the end of the Budget debate]

- Supplementary Estimates of Expenditure for 2015 [the current financial year] to cover inescapable additional expenditure not budgeted for in the original 2015 Estimates, i.e., to cover situations where, to quote this document, “the original estimate has proved inadequate” .

[available at the addresses given immediately below]

Veritas makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal responsibility for information supplied

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