Bahrain defence ministry under fire over spending pledges

According to the country’s English language newspaper, Gulf Daily News, Bahraini MPs have expressed doubts about promises that Bahrain's Defence Ministry would not surpass its budget allocated for the next two years.

The Minister, Dr Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, had made the pledge during a specially arranged meeting at the National Assembly complex. But many MPs voiced fears about his reassurances, saying the previous closing budget statements showed the ministry, which has the biggest spend in the national budget, had repeatedly overspent from 2006 to 2009.

According to the GDN Members also questioned where the money goes claiming that no detailed plan had been presented to parliament's financial and economic affairs committee.

A third of Bahrain's new two-year budget will be spent on security, Finance Minister Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa revealed lastmonth. He said 31 per cent of the draft budget was allocated to the Interior and Defence ministries, along with other security organisations. He stressed that it covered a wide range of public services and did not only mean buying weapons or military training.

More than BD1.6 billion has been earmarked for security during the next two years, with BD688.74 million going to the Defence Ministry - BD72m more than the last budget.

Speaking during a Press conference in Manama, committee chairman and Al Wefaq bloc president Abduljalil Khalil accused Dr Shaikh Mohammed of a lack of co-operation. "We are here speaking about the highest-budgeted ministry - a ministry with the highest recurrent expenditure (BD330m this year and BD358m next year) - and yet we are unable to know about most of its spending.

"The minister just answered questions about the BDF Hospital, His Majesty King Hamad General Hospital, Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa Cardiac Centre and the Royal Air Force without giving answers on their main security role."

Mr Khalil said the ministry only listed BD5m for this year and BD6m for next year's projects. "The ministry says they don't know how the BD25m and BD27m allocated for the Royal Air Force will be spent considering that they just receive it and transfer it to them without asking, despite it coming under the ministry's recurrent expenditure.

"There is BD35m allocated this year and BD36m next year for the BDF Hospital's recurrent expenditure, also without any details being given."

Mr Khalil said weaponry was off bounds, yet it was mentioned in the national closing budget statement. "The closing budget statement for 2008 shows that BD70m was spent on weaponry and BD72m in 2009. I know that in 2008 it was listed in the allocated budget for the ministry, but in 2009 I am not aware from where they got the money."

Committee member and Al Wefaq MP Dr Jassim Hussain said Dr Shaikh Mohammed told MPs that 90pc of the ministry's manpower were Bahrainis, with a large number of civilians.

"They asked for more money to meet human resource costs and maintenance, but didn't give details," he said.

"We are speaking about the second highest spenders with the Education Ministry coming second with BD235m allocated for this year and yet we are unable to decide whether they need cuts or increases."

Committee member and Al Wefaq MP Ali Al Aswad said the ministry had promised to cut spending, yet its budget would rise by 25pc next year. "I don't know what curb they are speaking about, as they say they need the increase for any future instability in the region, which is another big question mark again," he claimed.

"Another question still answered is where the BDF Hospital profits are."

Committee member and Al Wefaq MP Mattar Mattar claimed that the region remaining unstable was a mystery.

"I don't think the ministry's spending is justified considering that we have the US Naval Base and Saudi Arabia to offer us help in case of any attack, which I don't think would ever happen."