By Francis Chipalo
Outspoken Democratic Union (DU) President Ackim Antony Njobvu has welcomed government’s intention to finance the 2026 national budget through local revenue collection.
The finance minister, Situmbeko Musokotwane announced that K253.1 billion or 82% of next year’s budget will be financed through domestic revenue, a pronouncement the DU leader commended.
Njobvu who has on several occasions castigated government’ appetite and reliance on foreign direct investment stated that Zambia has enough resources, and emphasized the need for local investment.
“We can only hope that this is not the usual rythoric that the UPND government is known for, but that this can be materialised, but on other hand, I am not too comfortable that government plans to raise about K12 billion through grants due to the fact that most European countries are under pressure with the Russian war in Ukraine and appear to be spending on their defense in that regard,” Njobvu said.
Njobvu also said increasing Constituent Development Fund (CDF) to about K40 million is welcome, but expressed mixed feelings, stating that government has recently failed to release funds in some constituencies.
He highlighted that suppliers elsewhere are still complaining of not being paid after undertaking projects under CDF and further wondered how this ‘ambitious’ increase will be financed.
Meanwhile, Njobvu expressed worry that nothing on the plight of civil servants was announced. He added that most of them have continued surviving on loans due to poor salaries.
He further appealed to members of parliament to ensure that revisions are made on the budget during debates so that public service workers can begin getting decent salaries.
The opposition leader has since described next year’s budget as ambitious and expressed hope that government achieves it without giving excuses.