According to the breakdown of the funding, 296 billion Shillings will go for recurrent expenditures, 940 billion for development expenditures while the statutory obligations will be funded with 7 billion Shillings.
The loan that was approved in 2020 was meant for extension of electricity to industrial parks in Kampala, Soroti, Jinja, Kasese, Mbale, Karamoja, Mbarara and Tororo districts
Appearing before the Committee on Tuesday, Minister Henry Musasizi said the programme allocations in the proposed National Budget Framework Paper (BFP) were derived from the 18 NDP IV programmes and their respective Programme Implementation Action Plans (PIAPs).
Dick Alema, Secretary of Social Services said they have written to the Ministry of Education and Sports on the status and the need to code the schools as per the Council resolution.
The committee also observed that remitting additional funds than what was requested does not only distort budgetary planning but also starves other deserving entities which fail to implement their plans as a result of inadequate financing.
Barnabas Tinkasimire, the Buyaga West MP asked that the document presented by the Minister be withdrawn since it does not tally with the Budget Framework Paper that was tabled before the House in December 2021.
The cuts affected the Office of the President (1.9 billion), State House (8 billion), Office of the Prime Minister (4.31 billion), Ministry of Defence (5.14 billion), Ministry of Finance (25.9 billion), Office of the Auditor General (3.9 billion), Makerere University (4.3 billion) Uganda Revenue Authority (8.8 billion), National Curriculum Development Centre (12.8 billion), Missions Abroad (11.6 billion) and others.
Parliament appropriated 831 billion Shillings for the Parliamentary Commission for the financial year 2021/2022 but available information indicates that the budget was cut by 80 billion Shillings. This is one of the measures undertaken to reorganize government expenditure amidst the tough economic times caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is contained in the Ministry of Finance’s response to the issues raised by the Opposition in Parliament on the charter of fiscal responsibility for the financial year 2021/2022-2025/26. According to the list, individuals and private companies owe a sum of 137 billion Shillings while government entities owe 209 billion Shillings to the government.
Muwanga Kivumbi, the Butambala MP says that allowing the management of the fund to go to Finance would mean finance can easily access this money and this is dangerous looking at the state of indebtedness.
Francis Okello Olwa, the Lira District Communication Officer blames the delayed approval of their requisition on the Ministry of Finance and Local Government, saying the process has now taken more than two weeks.
The government has told Parliament that it needs more time to consult on the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) Amendment Bill 2019 especially on which Ministry should supervise the funds.
The Parliamentary Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) has tasked the Ministry of Finance to refund 800 million Shillings to the Departed Asians Properties Custodian Board (DAPCB) taken after the closure of the International Credit Bank (ICB).
The Ministry says in the latest reporting that this was the highest figure the country has exported in a single financial year. As a result, the country earned USD 494 million (1.8 trillion shillings).
The Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga accused the Finance Ministry of intentionally not paying the traders. She said that Parliament they will not deal with any business from the Ministry of Finance until they pay the traders.
Only 491 billion shillings was approved in April when the country was in total lockdown over coronavirus, down from 1.5 trillion Shillings approved in March when the country was just starting lockdown. This is a fall of more than 1 trillion Shillings on the money banks lent in April compared to March 2020.
However, in a letter dated April 4, 2020, the president rejected the loan on the forest and resilience landscape project and the additional financing for intergovernmental fiscal transfers. He said he has a problem with the Ministry's lack of seriousness and failure to use clear language in seeking for the loan.
Bahati told the committee today that the money was needed to operationalize UIRI’s machining, manufacturing and industrial skills training centre at Namanve. He added that in 2014, UIRI secured a grant of USD 30 million from China to establish the centre. He added that all the planned 17 building structures at the campus have been constructed and machines and equipment installed.
According to Auditor General John Muwanga’s audit report, a review of expenditures revealed that entities charged wrong expenditure codes to the tune of Shillings 369.8 billion, a practice he said leads to financial misreporting.
