ECONOMICS ASSOCIATION OF ZAMBIA(EAZ)

PERSPECTIVE OF LEGISLATURE PARTICIPATION IN

THE MTEF PROCESS IN ZAMBIA

A presentation at the meeting with a Uganda Parliament
budgeting official, Mr. Godfrey Kintu Senior Economist, on
a study tour of the Zambian legislature involvement in the
planning and budgeting process held at the offices of the EAZ
on 13
th
March 2013.
By
Lukwesa KAEMBA, MSc., MA., Member of EAZ
MTEF EXPECTATIONS
The Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), which is a
financialy based medium term planning tool, require that:
resources (both Government and donor) are available
and divided between sectors on the basis of achieving
government objectives. In this process, international
Donor funds are also accounted for on the revenue
side of the Budget.
both politicians and Donors agree to willingly
allocate and reallocate both domestic and Donor
resources on agreed priorities.
MTEF EXPECTATIONS (cont.)
politicians and Donors make difficult decisions
on reallocation of resources and then abide by
these decisions in the budget implementation
process. This constitutes the Budget constraint
by which expenditure must be abided to as
approved by Parliament. Politicians and
Donors make difficult decisions on
reallocation of resources and then abide by
these decisions in the budget implementation
process. This constitutes the Budget constraint
by which expenditure must be abided to as
approved by Parliament.

detailed and comprehensive information on the
costs of policy including data on all donor
funds is developed, so that meaningful
decisions on reallocations between sectors are
made.

THE GREEN PAPER
When the draft MTEF for the ensueing three
financial years is published by Government, it is
expected that Members of Parliament (MPs) have
to study the document and make comments
through either the Estimates Committee of
Parliament or individually to the Ministry of
Finance. However, there is limited response as
MPs are not bound by law to comment.
THE GREEN PAPER (CONT.)
The minimal response by MPs on the Green Paper
does not fully compell Government to provide
policy explainations on the contents of the Green
Paper. Hence, this affects depth of debate on the
Budget and hardly any debate on the draft MTEF
which covers the Budget year and the two
subsequent years. MTEF offers prospect of three-
year rolling financial planning of programmes.
FIVE-YEAR DEVELOPMENT
PLANS AND MTEF
The MTEF operationalises the five-year
development plans and the longer-term Vision
2030. The MTEF provides an opportunity by both
Government and Parliament to re-align
programmes in the development plan in
conformity with available resources. Hence, the
enactment of the Planning and Budgeting Act
would ensure this process is activated in earnest.
FIVE-YEAR DEVELOPMENT
PLANS AND MTEF (CONT.)
MTEF ensures that the objectives of the
development plans are achieved through prudent
allocation of resources during the plan period.
Hence legislature can use monitoring tools
embedded in the MTEF to adequately perform
oversight functions on Governments use of
resources. However, many MPS are not aware of
the indicator system of the MTEF.
BUDGET DEBATE
Presentation of the Budget to Parliament by the
Minister of Finance and its debate up to the
enactment of the Appropriations Act are the close
legal provisions that exist for the MPs
involvement in resource allocation to programmes.
Other than this, is their membership on Councils
of Local Authorities in their geographical
jurisdiction. Other fora are administrative.
BUDGET DEBATE (CONT.)
More formalised Budget debate, facilitated
by a Planning and Budgeting Act, at various
levels beginning with the community all the
way to Parliament would ensure
syncronised forward and backward linkages
among the planning and budgeting tools
such as the ward development initiatives,
local authoritiesbudgets,
BUDGET DEBATE (CONT.)
District and Provincial development
committeesprogrammes, national development
plans, MTEF, and national Budget.
Indeed, it is possible that the national Budget can
be undertaken exclusive of other processes, but
when this is attempted, it grossly lessens the
predictibility of the Budget as a basis for
accountability.
MTEF PARTICIPATION FORA
In conclusion, MPs participate in planning and
budgeting through the following fora:
Constituency project identification.
Ward development activities.
Local Authority Council meetings.
Audience with Provincial Permanent Secretary.
Representations to sector Ministries.
Debate in Parliament.