Intending candidate, Alfred Sasako, has called for the immediate dissolution of Parliament, saying the nation has reached the height of fiscal irresponsibility through abuse of public funds.
In a statement last Sunday, Alfred said the grim picture painted by a confidential circular issued by the Permanent Secretary of Finance, Shadrach Fanega, only 10 days ago called for decisive action to limit the sufferings being experienced by the people and the damage to the national economy.
The circular blamed the April flash floods and suspension of production at the Gold Ridge Mine for the government critical budget shortage.
“The truth of the matter is that mismanagement of the economy has been unprecedented.
“Blaming Gold Ridge and the floodings in April is completely untrue. They may be contributing factors but the real reason is that the 2014 Recurrent Budget was overly inflated. It was full of rubbery figures, which simply did not add up.
“For example, at the end of May this year revenue collection reached just 29 per cent of budget projection. Figures for the month of June were said to be worse,” Alfred said.
“And so rather than prolong the sufferings being experienced by the people nationwide, Parliament should be immediately dissolved and the national general election brought forward,” he said.
“This is the litmus test for leaders if they cared for the nation and the people’s welfare. Holding on to power will simply exacerbate an already critical situation.”
“We simply cannot go on spending money which we did not have in the first place anyway. To limit spending to just the payroll, utilities, national security and provincial governments until the end of December this year as the circular has clearly spelt out is saying we have hit rock bottom,” Alfred said.
Alfred said the time has now come to put an end to an over-extended period of accumulation of unpaid bills.
“The way things are is that we have lost common sense, a sense of purpose and a sense of direction. They must be restored to ensure government credibility and integrity in budgeting is restored,” Alfred said.
He said only a new national parliament with visionary leaders will restore credibility to this nation.
