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Zimbabwe All for the price of a pinta |
AIDS
«Reducing the price of beer does not make sense
because it does not reduce
the spread of the HIV/AIDS scourge.»
Such is the comment of many politicians
and ordinary Zimbabweans,
on their country’s latest fiscal plans
In his 2001 budget estimates presented to parliament towards the end of last year, the Minister of Finance, Dr Simba Makoni, decided to reduce the excise duty on clear beer from 80% to 60%. Political analysts were quick off the mark to condemn this aspect of the budget, as «lacking in morality», as it does not take into account the spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Critics continue to hammer the government saying it’s got its priorities wrong...rather like the Finance Ministry continuing to treat the Defence Ministry as more important than the Health Ministry. «Look», they say. «We’re hardly likely to go to war with our neighbours, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia and South Africa, so what’s the need for a large defence budget?»
But what’s actually happened? Ignoring calls for the withdrawal of Zimbabwe’s 11,000 troops from Congo RDC, Dr Makoni, under the «clear guidance» of President Robert Mugabe, has allocated $ ZW13 billion to defence, and given less than half that amount to health.
Which was a surprise, to say the least, because following the launching of the AIDS levy last year, the authorities were expected to show more commitment to preventing the disease, by allocating more money to the Ministry of Health for disbursement to various organizations involved in AIDS prevention and treatment programmes. But it appears the government is content with the three percent salary deductions from workers’ monthly pay packages (i.e. the AIDS Levy). It should be noted that there are less than two million people in formal employment in a country of about 13 million. Political commentators had hoped the government would reflect a positive attitude towards AIDS in its 2001 budget. Such was not the case.
The United Nations now knows that Zimbabwe is not to be numbered among those African countries to have launched effective policies against the AIDS pandemic. At an AIDS conference held in 2000 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, UN officials discovered that only seven African countries have put in place satisfactory anti-AIDS policies. These are Uganda, Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Zambia and Senegal.
Job Sikhala, is an opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Member of Parliament. He puts the situation bluntly: «The people in this country can survive without beer; everybody who drinks can do without beer. In drawing up the 2001 budget, the Finance Ministry did not recognise the importance of the Health Ministry. Our country’s resources should be poured into this Ministry, for the sake of the people».
The AIDS levy. Who benefits?
In this context, it should be recalled that the Health Minister had pleaded for more than US $200 million but the request fell on deaf ears. The National AIDS Council has so far raised about US $2 million from the AIDS levy. The money is being distributed to AIDS patients nationwide, and the government is being urged to be more active and treat the problem as a national disaster. And not all the organisations engaged in the AIDS programmes have benefited from the AIDS levy yet, because funds are inadequate.
Due to widespread corruption, many deserving people get nothing. How come? Well, a number of healthy people have made inroads into the fund by forging papers indicating they are HIV/AIDS patients. These impostors are sometimes helped by unscrupulous medical doctors to «jump the queue» and snatch the funds from those deserving them.
Yes, reducing the price of beer in this year’s budget is certainly not going to benefit our suffering population!
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PeaceLink 2001 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement