Cabinet approves 5 ‘budget-support’ Bills - Siliya
CABINET has approved five bills to be published and introduced in parliament to facilitate a smooth implementation of the 2019 national budget, Chief Government spokesperson Dora Siliya said in Lusaka yesterday. Ms Siliya named the five bills as the Value Added Tax -Amendment Bill 2018, Income Tax -Amendment Bill 2018, and the Customs and Excise -Amendment Bill 2018. The others are the Insurance Premium Levy (Amendment) Bill 2018, and the Mines and Minerals Development -Amendment Bill 2018. Ms Siliya, who is also Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services, said in a statement that the bills were approved during the 20th Cabinet meeting chaired by President Edgar Lungu at State House on Tuesday. She said that at the same meeting Cabinet also approved the upgrading of 500 basic schools during the period 2019-2022. Cabinet also approved the local and decentralized manufacturing, supplying, delivering and assembling of furniture for stocking and re-stocking in schools and tertiary institutions, she said. She said Government was concerned about the current provision for the secondary school sector which was at 40 percent and that this had resulted in 60 percent of the pupils who sat for Grade nine examinations not being able to continue with their secondary school education. Cabinet was impressed that the upgrade would involve the communities surrounding the identified areas unlike the usual Contractor Mode which had tended to be very costly to Government and in most cases did not benefit Zambian contractors thereby defeating Government’s policy of empowering citizens, she said, adding, however, that the required quality of work to be done should not be compromised.