The Standing Committee on Appropriations stressed that it did not tolerate irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure in government departments and their entities following its adoption of the proposed amendments to the 2017 Adjustments Appropriation Bill and its related report.

“These are the first budget amendments effected by Parliament since the dawn of democracy in 1994,” said the committee.

The committee added that amending Money Bills was an important expression of Parliament’s independence and said that it was a powerful tool to exercise oversight over the executive.

The committee pointed out that departments’ failure to implement projects budgeted for was one of the main reasons for the high rate of irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

More stringent action would be taken against departments and entities that continue overspending, said the committee. Further, the committee will also recommend that departments monitor that payment of invoices complies with the 30-day payment rule, especially those relating to small and medium-sized enterprises.

The first-ever risk statement was also adopted by the committee, which serves to identify and focus attention on programmes providing critical services to the public that display planning and implementation weaknesses.