Madagascar’s civil society is reacting after the adoption, late in the evening on Friday 27 November, of the deputies 2021. This text, which will regulate the country’s public spending for the coming year, was validated by the lower house, mostly pro-regime, after only three hours of debate in the House and an amendment. Members of the opposition party TIM boycotted the vote. The ROHY platform, which brings together organizations in all regions of the Big Island, held a press conference on Saturday morning. She condemns “a budget that has been voted on urgently and is incompatible with the needs and challenges of the people.”
“Incomprehensible priorities in a post-Covid-19 situation”: this is how civil society began its analysis of financial account. Hony Radert is Secretary General of the Collectif des Citoyens et des Organisations Citoyennes, a member of the ROHY movement. She explains:
“We are seeing an excessive increase in the budget for the Ministry of Youth and Sports. 128 billion Ariary (editor’s note: EUR 28 million) is devoted to internal investment in sport. This is almost 90% of the National Education investment budget. That is more than 50% of the health budget for internal investment. The budget for external investments for the post office is also increasing sharply. In addition, we see health lagging behind. In real cases, the health budget decreases. It was not possible to grant new budget lines, even though we know that there are not enough doctors in basic health centers, that there are not enough staff at hospital level, while health emergency is still there. “
In its analysis, civil society states that 11% of the budget, or SEK 1125 billion (EUR 250 million), remains without a specific destination. “The government has reduced the proportion of provisions for investments but has introduced a new category of public investment projects called ” emergence projects ”, which are admittedly registered at the ministry level, but without a use as defined in the draft. financial law. This maintains the budget’s lack of credibility and raises questions about the use of public funds, Hony Radert explains.
The ROHY movement also wonders about the growth rate of 4.5% that the government predicts for 2021, while it is negative this year, -3.8%. “It is very optimistic, if not impossible. Given the national and global context and the lack of support that the state provides, from our perspective, to the private sector. There is no concrete tax incentive measure to support this sector and help it in economic recovery, Hony Radert continues.The IMF predicts a 3% growth rate for the country.
The Civil Society Platform still welcomes several measures in the text: including the increase in the operating budget for municipalities and regional health departments and the partial payment of parental fees for education.
Opposition members boycotted the vote
A bill that was also criticized by the deputies from the opposition party TIM, who condemned “a masquerade” given especially the short time allowed to review the text. They left the room before the vote. “The submission and reading deadlines were not respected. There was also no budget conference at regional level. There was a kind of coercion on the part of the government for the adoption. The majority parliamentarians were convened and received by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance. We do not know what happened, but when they returned to Parliament, we immediately went against the adoption of the Finance Bill. Normally it is the parliament that has to challenge the government, but here it is the opposite that happened “, indicates Mamy Rabenirina, deputy for this party.
The TIM deputies also oppose the content of the text. “This financial account is far from realistic,” says Mamy Rabenirina. “Our parliamentary group and other majority members were not convinced of the government’s text. We expected to find an exceptional or special budget given the crisis caused by Covid-19. We heard for several months of revival for the private sector and even about a Marshall Plan, but after reading we did not find any of it, the parliamentarian continues.
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President Majority MP Keron Idealson points out that “there is logic to consider. I would also like to subscribe to measures that are favorable to the private sector, but the state must also find money to drive and manage the aftermath of the crisis we have just experienced. If we take favorable measures for the entire private sector, there is a risk for the Treasury to be negative.
Regarding the speed with which the text was adopted by the members of the lower house, the IRD’s deputy, the majority of the presidential party, informed that “all issues were discussed in the committee work and that changes could be made”.
The text must now be considered by senators before a vote is scheduled for December 10. Civil society will be received by members of the upper house next week.
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