Farirai Machivenyika — Public consultations for the 2025 National Budget began yesterday with the Government being urged to allocate more resources to education, health and other social services to cushion the public against the high cost of living.
The countrywide hearings are being led by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion and will end on Saturday.
Speaking during a public hearing at a Harare hotel, participants said there was need for the budget to stimulate economic growth and to create employment.
"The Government should use the forthcoming budget to allocate more resources for education and health to address the plight of the vulnerable groups in society who have borne the brunt of the economic challenges the country is facing," said Mr Kudakwashe Churu during the public hearing.
Mr Tapiwa Tsikai an advocate of the rights of persons living with disabilities said the Government should set aside funds for their empowerment in the various programmes it initiates.
"The Government should set aside funds specifically for the disabled in the budget especially in the devolution funds for the provinces.
"We also talk about agriculture, we need to come up with schemes specifically for them. Whenever there are programmes or distribution of inputs for agriculture, we also need to reserve a quota for them so that they can take care of themselves and their families," Mr Tsikai said.
Ms Elizabeth Munyama said resources should also be provided for women empowerment, especially the Women Microfinance Bank.
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"Women are lagging behind their male counterparts in terms of empowerment due to lack of resources. So, the upcoming budget should address that gap through provision of funds to the bank for onward lending to women at an affordable rate," she said.
The chairperson of the Children of War Veterans and Heroes Dependence Forum, Ms Aspire Mtingwende, said the budget should provide tax incentives to boost economic growth.
"As children of war veterans, we want the Government to use tax incentives to stimulate growth of the economy and provide employment opportunities. We also want the Government to use the budget to address welfare issues of not only children of war veterans but also war veterans themselves especially on school fees and other empowerment initiatives," he said.
Ms Joyline Nyachuru of the Community Water Alliance urged the Government to address the provision of clean water.
"The Government should use the budget for the construction of dams to ease the water woes in urban areas, especially Harare," she said.
The National Budget is expected to be presented by Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister Mthuli Ncube, next month with Parliament now on a countrywide consultative process to gather views on what people want addressed in the budget.
