For Immediate Release
10th October 2014
NGOCC Declares 2015 National Budget Gender Blind
The Non Governmental Organisations’ Coordinating Council (NGOCC)has welcomed the National Budget presentation for 2015 by the Minister of Finance under the theme ‘Celebrating our Golden Jubilee as One Zambia One Nation by making Economic Independence a reality for all’. This is a progressive theme which ideally should put in place pro-poor policies and programmes aimed at improving the quality of life for all Zambians, of whom 60 percent are poor.
Economic independence means a situation where women and men, girls and boys have access to the full range of economic opportunities and resources, including employment, and sufficient disposable income, so they can shape their lives and their futures, and meet their own needs and the needs of their dependents.
However, NGOCC observes that the provisions in the 2015 National Budget do not reflect the implication of the theme. The 2015 National budget is gender blind in that it does not adequately focus on programmes that address gender inequalities and assure economic independence especially with regard to women and children. There is need for government to holistically address the whole continuum of access to land, financial capital, long term job creation in the productive sectors as well as existence of an enabling environment for the promotion of entrepreneurial skills among Zambia’s young population (90% citizens are below 45 years old).
NGOCC was expecting the government to zero rate Value Added Tax (VAT) in the 2015 national budget on essential food items including maize meal, sugar, milk, cooking oil, bread, beef, salt and baby formulae to mention but just a few. Further, we expected the government to increase the Income Tax free threshold from the current K3, 000 to K4, 000 to enable most of the working poor meet their basic needs. We observe that both taxes have remained the same implying that the disposable income of the working poor will be reduced even further taking into consideration inflation.
NGOCC is saddened that in the 2015 budget, the government has still failed to introduce the Windfall Tax on the mines in order to broaden the tax base. We contend that the current mine tax obligations are below the expected contributions to the economy for substantial economic growth and therefore question the government on how it will raise resources for job creation if it does not take advantage of the available opportunity of increasing revenue from the mining sector.
The 2015 national budget has allocated only K29.26 million (reduced from the K44 million allocated in the 2014 budget, which still remains unexplained on its application) to the constitution making process with the assertion that it will cater for consensus building albeit unclear on its intended outcome. We are of the view that the amount allocated to this important undertaking is not enough for a National Referendum as a way to adopt a people driven constitution and foster unity in the process. There is need for magnanimity on the part of government to facilitate well-meaning consensus building with regard to the constitution making process by immediately releasing the final draft constitution and accord citizens an opportunity to engage positively with the document and process. NGOCC still contends that a people driven constitution will provide a legal framework that will be used for achieving an all inclusive growth and equal opportunities for all. The inadequate allocation shows the lack of political will on the part of government to give the Zambian people a constitution that will stand the test of time.
On the other hand, NGOCC welcomes the 20.2 percent allocation to the education sector, which will among others cater for the recruitment of 5,000 teachers. The continuation of the School Feeding Programme which enables a number of children from poor and vulnerable families to stay in school, is a good move. Further, the increase in the allocation to bursaries is also a welcome move. However, there is need to ensure that affirmative action is put in place to ensure that more poor rural students, especially girls access the scheme.
While we commend the government on the infrastructure development in tertiary education and recruitment of new teachers to reduce the current high teacher to pupil ratio,we note that the retention and progression rate of girls have not been addressed. This is despite government’s public pronouncement on its commitment to fight the scourge of child marriages and teen pregnancies which has resulted from challenges such as inadequate accommodation facilities for girls in schools. The budget is silent on how much resources have been allocated to building of more boarding facilities for girls in schools, especially in rural areas, to mitigate the high numbers of these child marriages and teen pregnancies.
We also wish to acknowledge the bold pronouncement on improving the agriculture sector with regard to extension services, Fertilizer Input Support Programme (FISP), the Food Security Packs, irrigation services as well as livestock services. It is NGOCC’s considered view that if well restructured and targeted to the unique needs of women and men, the said measures would contribute to reversing the high poverty scenario in the country, which the Minister alluded to in his budget presentation. Most important here is the need to review the processes and procedures of access especially in getting the said support to the intended beneficiaries, who are mostly the small scale farmers comprising mainly women.
The 2015 National Budget allocation to the Health sector of 9.6 percent falls short of the Abuja declaration of 15 percent total budget allocation to the sector. In addition, we are concerned that the dwindling allocations to the sector will not address the prevailing high maternal and child mortality ratestherefore not realizing Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of 162 deaths per 100,000 live births. However, while we commend government for the move to upgrade the existing hospitals, University Teaching Hospital, Livingstone, Kitwe and Ndola general hospitals, it is our expectation that the specialized equipment in these hospitals should address the maternal and infant health problems including PMTCT, cervical and breast cancer, as well as under five services.
All in all, even with the inadequacies of gender responsiveness in many aspects of our national budget approach, NGOCC is hopeful that with collective reflection and refocusing of our mindsets in this Jubilee year, the 2015 National Budget would be used as a stepping stone to real equity and equality when it comes to implementation. We need to move from rhetoric to action if economic independence is to be actualized to its full provisions.
For/NGOCC
Engwase B. Mwale
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
We are expecting too much from blind leaders.
This whole gender balancing act is slowly becoming like the reverse racism we are witnessing in those countries that have abused the so-called BEE. While it was the rallying cry that brains must replace brawn, now it is simply physiology must replace brain!! Get off your behinds and grasp the already conducive environment that has even brought a huge push of female police chiefs in the security sector, among others. I wouldn’t like to hear a statement in the budget that reads “…and now for WOMEN and CHILDREN, we are allocating…”