Wolesi Jirga rejects last year’s expenditure report

KABUL members on Wednesday rejected the expenditure report of fiscal year 1397, insisting on inclusion of their suggestions in next year’s budget plan.

According to a Pajhwok Afghan News report, a number of projects’ funds were shifted to other schemes, billions of afghanis allocated for targets have not been spent while some organizations received more budget than defined.

The lower house termed the shifting of funds from one to another code, spending one project’s funds in another project, overspending by some organs and providing no explanation on these issues as violations and suggested officials of organs who spent less than 80 percent of their budget be referred to Attorney General Office (AGO).

However, the lower house was divided over the expenditure report of 1397 fiscal year in previous sessions and lawmakers decided to vote again on the report today, Wednesday.

Lawmakers today rejected the report with a majority of vote. Waqif Hakimi, a lawmaker from Badakhshan province, criticized three times voting the report and said, “The previous day’s vote was against the law, the lower house showed its dissatisfaction with the report through its finance commission and there was no need for a vote on the issue today.”

Nazir Ahmad Hanafi, a lawmaker from western Herat province, said the expenditure report was rejected and discussion on this issue should end.

A number of other lawmakers held similar views and said the expenditure report did not require vote.

However, Baktash Eshchi, a representative from Jawzjan province, said: “The Afghan government will face budgetary problems next year if the report is rejected. You know that 50 percent of the country’s budget is provided by the international community.”

He asked the lower house not to reject the report for the sake of continued international community’s support to Afghanistan.

However, Wolesi Jirga speaker Mir Rahman Rahmani said there was no need for vote on acceptance or rejection of the expenditure report as the house had already showed its dissatisfaction through the financial commission.

Rahmani said suggestions approved in the previous session would be implemented and the expenditure report stood rejected.

mds/ma