Prime
Museveni: Budget has a lot of wastage
President Museveni addressing Parliament from State House after the reading of the Budget. PPU PHOTO
President Museveni yesterday told Parliament that after analysing the 2020/2021 Budget, they found a lot of wastes, which will necessitate a review to align the expenditure to the country’s priorities.
“When we looked at the Budget, we found a lot of wastage. Hiring halls. People are dying from corona, you are talking of hiring halls for meetings? Why can’t that money be saved?......we are coming back to engage our people,” Mr Museveni said during the 2020/2021 televised Budget address at State House, Entebbe.
Sources who spoke to Daily Monitor on anonymity said Cabinet sat and internalised the Budget and found out that a lot of money was going to non-priority areas instead of supporting the Covid-19 fight.
However, nothing much could be done since Finance minister Matia Kasaija was “busy finalising the Budget” he read.
“The matter was not handled because Minister Kasaija was busy. Mr Kasaija is going to review the Budget,” the source said.
Presenting the Budget from Parliament, Mr Kasaija said the interventions for the pandemic came in after the Budget was approved. As a result, allocation to the various sectors will be revised to the nine strategic priorities.
“The recent emergencies, especially the coronavirus pandemic, have necessitated additional interventions and resource allocations after the Budget was approved. We have since been undertaking extensive consultations with several stakeholders on remedial actions.
Consequently, the budgets of all ministries, agencies and local governments will be revised to align them with the nine strategic priorities and fourteen production lines. This will focus the budget on production and not consumption. I will accordingly return to Parliament for the necessary approval,” Mr Kasaija said.
Speaker Rebecca Kadaga said the Budget did not take care of the challenges and effects of Covid-19 because Parliament looked at it on April 23 and 24, almost two months before it was presented to the nation.
The President echoed his stance on corrupt officials in government saying he had already got rid of corrupt Uganda Revenue Authority staff and the fight was rolling to other agencies.
He wondered why government only collected 14.3 per cent of rental tax and forced them to borrow, which money is repaid with interest. As such, he has returned the Landlords and Tenants Bill to Parliament for review.
Mr Museveni said tax exemptions will only be on locally made products while government will refocus its investment on human resource development.
