Devolution guidelines under fire as disparity betw...

Devolution guidelines under fire as disparity between allocations widens

**Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube**

Nyashadzashe Ndoro

CHIEF REPORTER

The government’s new devolution guidelines, aimed at decentralising power and resources to local authorities, have come under scrutiny as the disparity between allocations and disbursements continues to grow.

Zaka South legislator (Zanu PF), Clemence Chiduwa, raised concerns over the issue, questioning whether the government would wait for the amendment of the Public Finance Management Act to implement the rollover provisions.

Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube responded, saying a plan to amend the Public Finance Management Act was there.

“Yes, we will have to amend the Public Finance Management Act. As you know, it is one of those bills that we need to dispense with in Parliament this year. Then we will start with the rollover provisions in the first quarter of this year. “

Chiduwa, a former Finance Deputy Minister, however, expressed dissatisfaction with the response, pressing for more information on the policy measures in place to ensure that devolution allocations match disbursements.

“I wanted to find out what policy measures have been put in place to make sure that devolution allocations are equal to devolution disbursements,” Chiduwa said.

Ncube admitted that the government was still working to close the gap between approved budgets and cash disbursements.

“We will run a quasi cash budget system where we live within our means. You may find that from time to time, the cash disbursements lag behind budget releases as well as the budget itself.

“I can assure you that going forward, we can endeavour to close that gap. In fact, the system that we have introduced going forward, is where we first of all have a better coordination between Accountant General’s Office who really basically runs the cash disbursements with the Expenditure Department, which determines the budget releases, making sure that we get to know about the cash cycle in the first place.

“As I speak, I now have to deal with one-week to two-week cash cycles which will then trigger the budget releases which will then be met by those cash releases when they come through. We have managed to close the gap there,” he said.