Amid rising prices and cases of disasters claiming people's lives, Members of Parliament (MPs) have suggested that the more than Rwf5 trillion that Rwanda plans to spend in the next fiscal year, should strengthen efforts to tackle such issues, among other priorities.
This was noted on Wednesday, May 3, when the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Uzziel Ndagijimana, presented to both chambers of Parliament the Budget Framework Paper (BFP) and medium term budget estimates for 2023/24-2025/26.
"First, we are saddened by the bad news of floods that claimed lives of many Rwandans - more than 100 - in different districts of Western Province because of climate change," said MP Frank Habineza, who is the vice chairperson of the Lower House's Committee on Social Affairs.
Habineza said that there is a need for giving priority to anti-climate change and disaster management efforts, especially in the most affected districts including Rutsiro, Ngororero, Rubavu, and Karongi to be able to deal with disasters.
"This should mainly be done through setting up early an warning system, and also increasing the budget allocation to the Ministry of Disaster Management (MINEMA)," Habineza said.
Minister Ndagijimana said that for emergency, concerned public entities are responding to the disaster effects by supporting the people affected by disasters. He added that the Government has started mobilising resources to implement long-term initiatives intended to tackle climate change, and disasters.
Regarding food prices, MP Habineza commended the Government for waiving value added tax (VAT) on maize flour and rice, but voiced concern that prices of other foodstuffs such as beans are high, and sought to know what the Ministry of Finance plans to do about that.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Ndagijimana said that inflation - overall increase in prices - reached 21.6 per cent in 2022 compared to the previous year.
Meanwhile, he said that high inflation started easing as it slightly went down to 19.3 per cent in March 2023.
MP Veneranda Nyirahirwa said it is good that agriculture sector output is projected to grow by 4 per cent in 2023, which is double the 2 per cent growth that it registered in 2022, as indicated data from the Ministry of Finance.
"This reassuring, if all things go according to plan," she said.
However, she expressed concern that the Auditor General's report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2022, revealed inconsistency in cases where the irrigated agricultural land (by the Rwanda Agriculture Board) was larger than the actual area on field, which would result in poor planning.
Public transport
MP Nyirahirwa said that public transport should also be supported, because the Auditor general's report for the financial year ended June 30, 2022, revealed that the public seat capacity dropped by almost 3,000 seats since 2015.
Ndagijimana said that the assessment they carried out showed that there was a need for 305 public buses, adding that their procurement has started under a public private partnership model, and that most new buses will be powered by electricity, with few running on petroleum-based fuel.
