Parliament on Monday passed six government Bills which will among others help Treasury to disburse funds in the 2022-2023 national budget. 

The Bills include Appropriation Amendment, Taxation Amendment, Land Acquisition and Compensation Amendment and Land Survey Amendment.

According to Leader of the House Richard Chimwendo Banda, the adoption of the Appropriation Bill signifies operationalisation of the recently passed 2022-2023 budget.

He said: “After passing the budget we normally come up an Appropriation Bill to make the budget as a whole, so that has passed.

In fact in other words, the budget has passed today because the law is what we have, of course we also had Appropriation Amendment Bill.”

Commenting on the Appropriation Bills, Minister responsible for Finance and Economic Affairs Sosten Gwengwe said all is set for Treasury to start allocation of funds come 1st April this year.

“Parliament has now given mandate to government to allocate the resources to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), so Parliament has appropriated the 2022-2023 financial estimates,” Gwengwe said.

Lands Minister Sam Kawale said the adoption of the Land Bills by the House is a significant step towards improving processes behind land management and acquisition.

He said: “What has been happening over the past couple of years is that issues of ownership of land and plots have been a little bit chaotic.

If someone acquires a peace of land or a building that they are renting and there some issues, we are trying to protect those people from such malpractices.”