Despite the Parliament endorsing the 2009/2010 budget by a principle of simple majority this week in Dodoma opposition Members of Parliament have explained why their camp rejected the estimates.

On Sunday we learnt that the opposition unanimously voted against the budget after realising that it had a lot of “loopholes” that the government failed to explain how they would be plugged.

The Opposition camp had forwarded an alternative budget, which according to our sources, was ignored by the government side.

Instead it simply responded to the opposition by saying it would look at it and see if there was anything to borrow from it.

In their “shadow budget”, the opposition blamed the government for over-dependence on donors and support from foreign countries to fund most of the development activities without showing any serious measures for sourcing government funds internally.

In the 2009/2010 budget, the government expects to receive Sh 3.2 trillion from donors; much more from the Sh 2.8 tr it has alocated for development expenditure in the same period.

According to the leader of the opposition in parliament, Hamad Mohamed Rashid, the government does not pay for development projects in the country and instead shows too much dependency on donors.

“It is a shame that the country still relies on donors to fund its development expenditure, 48 years since we got independence. The government ought to be independent, and donors only come in to subsidise” said Rashid.

The opposition leader said his camp was uncomfortable with the government’s move to allow tax exemptions on the mining sector and fisheries, as well as forest products, despite reports that the government can get between 20 and 25 per cent of the GDP through taxation.

He said it is estimated that the government loses $ 50 million every year in revenue from the mining sector and another $ 58 million from the forestry department, adding that China imports ten times of forest products from Tanzania than what the government records show.

The Wawi member of parliament said the government has failed to clearly show how it would improve its revenue by avoiding tax exemption.

He said the opposition camp was not pleased with the government`s failure to solicit revenue from the mining sector, and instead allowed companies with old contacts to enjoy the exemption and only wants to restrict new companies.

Rashid said the parliament authorized the government to implement recommendations of the Bomani commission, but had apparently failed.

On a different note, the opposition argues that the Sh 1.7 tr bailout plan was not clearly indicated in the budget.

Rashid said the Economic and Finance committee advised the minister for Finance and Economic Affairs, Mustafa Mkulo, to include the amount in the budget, but he failed.

He said the government was supposed to bail out farmers who suffered losses due to the global financial crisis as it happens in other countries, adding that in most countries, such processes are very transparent.

The Karatu member of Parliament, Wilbrod Slaa, on his part faulted the biudget saying; “ We are tired of these rhetorical budget speeches every year; in fact the minister failed to show how the government will source money to fund its projects.”

He said the ‘Agriculture First’ slogan does not fit well in the budget, arguing that the government has allocated only seven per cent of this year’s budget to agriculture compared to the 7.1 per cent alocated for the same sector in the 2008/2009 budget.

The outspoken MP said the government failed to list the number of companies and financial institutions that would benefit from the stimulus package set a side by the government.

Slaa said, “ We have information that several companies have lined up to benefit through the stimulus package, in fact this was done much earlier, even before the government made the plan public.”

The legislator added that the government was supposed to have carried out a thorough investigation to reveal the number of companies affected in the crisis and by how much were they affected, rather than just coming up with the issue.

He added that the opposition could not just endorse such a vague plan that would rekindle the pains caused by the EPA scandal that saw billions of public funds swindled by some few people.

Dr Slaa also said the opposition camp could not pass the budget as the minister endorsed payment of EPA money last year, contrary to what the president told the parliament -- that the government would not effect any more payments through that account.

He noted that the opposition was not pleased with the mismanagent of public money at this time of crisis, saying the Sh 19 bn that is allocated for allowance in kind could have been set a side for other important development projects.

Slaa said not even their CCM counterparts could easily endorse such a “lousy” budget. He alleged that members of the ruling party during their inner meeting were forced to support the budget, knowing that blocking its passage could prompt dissolution of parliament.

He blamed Section of 99 of the constituthion, saying the section does not allow CCM members freedom to exercise their right.

He said it make those in authority to force their agenda to pass through for fear that if they fail, the parliament could be dissolved.

The Bariadi MP, John Cheyo, told this paper that the government ought to put money in people’s pockets rather than rushing to rescue banks and cooperatives.

He said at leaat 10 milion people depend on cotton production, adding such people should be given first priority in the government’s agendas.

“Why is the government more concerned with the commercial institutions than the wananchi ?” he wondered, adding that it was not good for foreign firms to be compensated while local institutions lacked funds.

Cheyo said the government plans to bail out Artumas to produce electricy, and later sell to TANESCO at a higher cost instead of supporting the local power utility firm to produce the needed 220 megawatts.