Education ministry gets paltry allocation

News
MOST ministries are in a serious financial crisis, as the cash-strapped government is failing to release enough funds for administrative work.

MOST ministries are in a serious financial crisis, as the cash-strapped government is failing to release enough funds for administrative work, a cabinet minister has revealed.

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT

Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart said the treasury had diverted the little funds that were available to finance the referendum and the voter registration exercise.

He revealed that his ministry had received a paltry US$20 000 to be used for two months in all the provinces of the country.

“My ministry has not been in such a financial crisis as it is in now. We have been allocated by treasury about US$20 000 to run our administration work for May and June,” said Coltart. “That little money is supposed to cater for administration work for 8 500 schools and 73 administrative districts offices.”

He revealed that his ministry needed at least US$100 000 per month to do all the administrative work. Other ministries are also facing a similar predicament of serious under-funding.

“We need several hundreds of dollars every month to run the ministry effectively and efficiently, yet we have been allocated US$20 000 for two months,” he said and added that this was the same situation in many other ministries.

Coltart said the finance ministry was facing a daunting task of financing government ministries and funding the election process. “Funds have been diverted towards the elections, referendum and the registration process,” he said.

Coltart said the treasury’s financial woes were being worsened by failure by local companies to remit tax to the fiscus.

“As we all know the business sector has been depressed and there is very little money in the system, and the money that is coming into the treasury has also dropped,” said the minister.

He was sceptical whether the government would be able to raise enough funds for the impending harmonised election.

“We are facing a very serious financial crisis and I don’t know whether the treasury has money to fund the election,” said Coltart. “We have not reached an agreement with the United Nations, South Africa, Sadc or the European Union for external help to fund the elections.”

Zimbabwe withdrew a request for money from the United Nations to fund elections expected next month after refusing to accept its conditions, including media reforms and security issues, saying the UN wanted to interfere with local politics.

This is despite that Finance Minister Tendai Biti conceded that the country could not afford to fund the vote. The UN assistance was expected to be in the tune of US$132 million.

Related Topics