Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) on Monday expressed reservations on the allocation of K1.1 billion Vote-170 to the Ministry of National Unity in the proposed 2022-2023 budget. 

The skepticism comes as the lawmakers are scrutinizing the budgetary allocation vote by vote to various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

But commenting on the allocation, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Blantyre City South East legislator Sameer Suleman said government needs to prioritise other important sectors like unforeseen circumstance unlike National Unity Ministry which has nothing to show on ground.

“This new ministry which was created not long time ago has been taking money from government in every budget but on the ground, there is nothing to show the activities of this ministry,” Suleman said.

“We have just come out of cyclones Ana and Gombe, we are currently expected to be hit again with another cyclone which is on the way and looking at the areas like Phalombe, Mulanje Thyolo, Lower Shire and parts of  Blantyre, people have lost everything.”

“And here we are we taking K1.2 billion to give a Ministry that had not even fully complied with all the requirements to be in place, it is still a baby.”

But responding to the discontent, Minister responsible for Finance and Economic Sosten Gwengwe said there is already allocation of unforeseen circumstance and that the said Ministry needs such an allocation because it has more work to execute.

He said: “There is already an allocation for such unforeseen circumstance vote so combining two voted under our own rules it’s not the way to go.”

“But if you also look at the issue of national unity, it’s an agenda that goes beyond a face of any person whether a minister or MP.”

Meanwhile, Timothy Mtambo who is Minister of National Unity has described Opposition’s hesitation as personal in nature.

“We are happy because there are a lot of activities to be done, a lot of structures to be established and a lot of conflicts to be resolved.”

“It’s not surprising that they were arguing that because we know they have got personal vendetta, it’s not anything to do with issue based argument but anything to do with me not the Ministry, they have issues with,” Mtambo said.

After the disagreements, the House finally passed what the Opposition deemed as controversial Vote.