National elections budget not enough -
µµ I can say we are looking at a supplementary budget of over E500m, unless the minister finds other ways of cutting the costs. I can encourage government to make available between E350m and E400m for approval and I am not sure how the variance will be cushioned”
MBABANE – Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on -ustice and Constitutional Affairs Member Parliament(MP) Sibusiso Mabhanisi Dlamini says the budget requested for the 2023 National General Elections is too little.
Last week the Minister of Finance, Neil Rijkenberg, revealed that the national elections were going to costs an estimated amount of over E330 million.
The minister further stated that government was ready to release E50 million and the E280 million would be released after this year’s budget. E8 million has already been disbursed towards the local government elections, which have since opened Registration at town around the country.
Dlamini, a MP representing Kwaluseni Inkhundla, said though the minister was optimistic that the requested amount would do the job, the work on the ground was bigger than the amount.
He said the amount would possibly cover the registration exercise only, while there was still the campaign period, as well as the primary and secondary phases of the elections process.
He mentioned that there was a need for government to come up with more plans on how to cut the elections budget. He expressed his optimism that the recommendations presented by the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) were going to cover cost cutting plans.
“I am not an expert in finances but I can tell you now that the estimated budget for the elections will not be enough. This is not going to be an ordinary election process, and there is a need for government to prepare for more expenses. Remember that the EBC still has to run a voter registration exercise which hires more people and demands more travelling and education. There are workshops that need to be conducted for the clerks and other staff and all that forms part of the budget and this is before the primary and secondary elections,” he said.
Dlamini said the proposal made by the EBC for an extended voter registration programme was important in cutting the cost of the national elections. He said the registration exercise took a part of the budget, as more staff was needed for data capturing and analysis.
According to Wikipedia, in an electoral system, voter registration or enrolment is the requirement that a person otherwise eligible to vote must register or enrol, on an electoral roll, which is usually a prerequisite for being entitled or permitted to vote.
The exercise is done every election year and gives a picture of how many are willing to participate in the election
WITNESSES
A total of 1 493 registration clerks and competent witnesses were recruited and trained during the 2018 National General Elections. These were responsible for registering voters at communities. The commission had projected to register 650 000 eligible voters based on the population census and at the end of the registration period, a total of 547 426 voters were registered
One economist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the elections budget was bound to increase to over E500 million due to the inflation on prices of consumables.
“I can say we are looking at a supplementary budget of over E500m, unless the minister finds other ways of cutting the costs. I can encourage government to make available; between E350m and E400m for approval and I am not sure how the variance will be cushioned,” said the economist.
The economist also highlighted that the budget anticipated a further increase in personnel and incentives due to the incorporation of the local government election into the EBC program.
Minister Rijkenberg said the request for the estimated E330m budget had already gone through all the preliminary processes and was waiting for Parliament to open for the fifth and last session of the current term, so that it could be tabled for approval. Rijkenberg said the budget estimates went through the consideration and approval of the ministry’s Planning and Budgeting Committee (PBC).
“The election year does have additional costs to cater for Parliamentarians and that will be over and above the cost of the elections,” said the minister.
He said the costs of the elections were set to increase considering the additional costs that were usually attached to the process.
Budgetary challenges that were noted in the previous national elections were the lack of financial independence of the EBC and the flexibility of the budget during the election year. It was observed that the two challenges had a bearing on the budget allocation system, funds