The classified budget of the Ministry of Defense and Veterans Affairs has hit 1.9 trillion shillings for next financial year from 800 billion last year.
The classified budget of the Ministry of Defense and Veterans
Affairs has hit 1.9 trillion shillings for next financial year.
The total allocation for the Defense budget for the financial year
2019/2020 which was approved by Parliament has hit a record 3.5 trillion
shillings, but close to 57% of this is under classified budget.
Classified expenditure is expenditures for confidential operations
of a nation.
According to the Defense Committee chairperson Doreen Amule, due to pressing needs in the same area of defense, they have reallocated
118 billion shillings out of the 1.9 trillion shillings towards support for
salaries of Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF) officers and newly recruited
Local Defense Unit (LDU) personnel, while others will be to overhaul the Uganda
Air Cargo which is currently struggling.
Asked why the amount on classified expenditure has increased,
Amule says all sectors had increased their budgets.
In her report however while reallocating money from classified to
other areas, Amule said whereas the classified budget is critical, the
committee noted that the outputs for the same classified items where not indicated
and there are other pressing issues within Defense that needed an urgent
funding.
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Gilbert Olanya, the Kilak South MP who also sits on the Defense committee says
the increased classified budget is a worrying issue, especially since the MPs
don’t know how the money is spent.
He says Government needs to review the classified expenditure adding that this
money is extravagant and is getting worse day by day.
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The total proposed budget for financial year 2019/2020 stands at
39.5 trillion shillings.
Alex Otto
Freelancer