Parliament fails to start debating on 2016/17 national budget

Parliament on Monday failed to start scrutinizing the MK1.2 trillion 2016/17 national budget presented by Minister of Finance and Economic Development Goodall Gondwe last Friday.

After the presentation of the budget, Parliamentarians are expected to scrutinize the budget through clusters for two weeks starting from Monday afternoon.

But reports reaching this publication indicate that MPs failed to start the scrutiny due to lack of enough booklet of the financial statement by Gondwe.

Parliamentary Finance Committee Chairperson Ryhno Chiphiko confirmed of the development in an interview with the press.

Chiphiko faulted the committee, saying the delay will have a negative impact over the scrutiny of the budget.

Meanwhile MPs have today started scrutinizing the budget.