LOBAMBA – Members of Parliament say government should not make them beggars when it comes to service delivery.
This was during the adoption of three monetary Bills (loans) on Monday.
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The Bills are: the African Development Bank (Enhancing Economic Resilience and Competitiveness Programme (EERCP) Phase 1) Loan Bill, 2025, The International Development Association (Eswatini Youth Employment Opportunities Project) Financing Bill, 2025, and the OPEC Fund for International Development (Fiscal Management and Competitiveness Development Policy Financing) Loan Bill 2025, No. 20 of 2025.
During the debate, Mayiwane MP Sicelo Dlamini said every Liswati was paying tax, but they derived no benefit from it.
Dlamini claimed that only four constituencies were benefiting from government assistance currently. He said government should stop making MPs beggars.
He said MPs were asking government to extend the necessary services to the people as mandated. Dlamini claimed that MPs were now begging ministers just because they were asking government to help the nation.
He said as they were passing the Bills, service delivery should be spread equally so that they stopped begging each other.
The legislator said they should not beg the Ministry of Public Works and Transport for the provision of proper roads in their areas; instead, the ministry should distribute road maintenance equally.
“There are some places that have nothing, but some constituencies are receiving hospitals, schools, and roads. We are here passing loans for individuals because they benefit certain constituencies,” he said.
He added that even Cabinet was teaming against them if they became harsh on them. He said Cabinet should distribute projects equally.
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Meanwhile, Lugongolweni MP Joseph Souza stated that they wanted Bills that would support the ordinary Liswati as legislators.
He said there were certain people benefiting from the loan Bills, but urged that the loans must benefit the whole nation.
Phondo MP Bonginkhosi Dube agreed with the MPs. He said he had been advocating for the construction of the D91 road ever since he came into Parliament, but nothing had been done on that particular road.
He said the only thing that they were asking for was for government to take what they were discussing seriously so that there could be progress in the constituencies.
Mover of the motion, Mafutseni MP Sabelo Mtetwa, who is the deputy chairperson of the Ministry of Finance Portfolio Committee, stated that the MPs needed to be patient.
He said the services were coming to their constituencies since development could not happen in all 59 constituencies at the same time.
Minister of Labour and Social Security Phila Buthelezi also stated that there might be projects that have been done for the MPs in their constituencies that were not there in other constituencies.
He said some of these projects might have been done before their term, highlighting that before the MPs accuse the ministers, they should at least do a background check and note if the projects were not implemented before.
“Some constituencies have firms while others do not. Some had state-of-the-art buildings but were burnt down and all of these things should be considered,” he said.
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