Parliament approves K19.9 billion supplementary budget, with K15.8 billion for agriculture

The National Assembly on Wednesday approved extra government spending of about K19.95 billion for 2026, with almost four-fifths of it going to agriculture. Members passed the Supplementary Appropriation (No. 2) Bill, 2026 (National Assembly Bill 79 of 2026) through all its stages at one sitting, without amendment. The House first sat as the Committee of Supply and approved the supplementary estimates head by head. The Ministry of Agriculture received K15,758,317,989. Finance and National Planning was next at about K1.25 billion, followed by Education at K540 million and Defence at K422,519,579. Local Government and Rural Development received K295,292,248, the Cabinet Office K293,390,565, the Zambia Security Intelligence Service K286,413,600 and Water Development and Sanitation K278,919,674. Technology and Science was given K180 million, Home Affairs and Internal Security K125.4 million, the Zambia Correctional Service K70 million, Commerce, Trade and Industry K63.65 million, and the Anti-Corruption Commission K19 million. Energy received K14,038,379 and the Drug Enforcement Commission K5,826,176. The Office of the Vice President was allocated K20 million. Southern Province received K14,097,860 and each of the other nine provincial offices K1 million. A further K300 million went to the contingencies vote. The sitting was not without friction. MPs from Shiwang'andu and Chipangali West said they had not received the estimates documents and could not follow the figures. The Speaker said the papers had been circulated and told the House to proceed in the interest of time. Finance and National Planning Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said both hard and soft copies had been distributed, and the Minister of Technology and Science pointed members to the National Assembly WhatsApp group. The Chipangali West MP later confirmed the documents had arrived and said he supported the estimates. Closing the committee stage, the Speaker urged members to read their documents before t