Prime
Parliament infuriated over last minute budget adjustments
Speaker Anita Among
What you need to know:
- The junior minister for general duties in the Finance Ministry, Mr Henry Musasizi tabled at the 11th hour a second corrigenda that could potentially increase the budget beyond the revised Shs51.9 trillion.
- Members of the budget committee were told by the Governor of the central Bank, Mr Michael Atingi-Ego that the government had during the Covid-19 pandemic failed to pay back the redeemed securities and treasury bills and bonds leading to Shs3 trillion debt.
The Speaker of Parliament Anita Among temporary suspended plenary sitting Wednesday morning following last minute budget corrections.
Ms Among said the two hour hiatus was to allow the treasury to draft a letter of assurance that the House would not be ambushed with more budget corrections technically known as corrigenda.
The junior minister for general duties in the Finance Ministry, Mr Henry Musasizi tabled at the 11th hour a second corrigenda that could potentially increase the budget beyond the revised Shs51.9 trillion.
Only last week did the committee scrutinize the first budget review which increased the budget from Shs50.9 trillion to the 51.9 trillion.
Musasizi told the committee that increase was because government had received assurances about receiving external grants worth Shs700 billion and additional Shs300 billion of internally generated revenue.
The budget committee was meant to present to the plenary the budget for approval.
However, the report was not readied which was partly the reason for which plenary was suspended to allow the committee to finalize the report but also process the second corrigenda.
Members of the committee were yet to receive the reviewed budget to detail the exact shift in the budget for financial year 2023/24.
The first corrigenda had Shs285 billion allocated for Covid-19 emergencies and Shs254 billion for reducing the treasury liability with the Bank of Uganda.
The junior minister for general duties in the Finance Ministry, Mr Henry Musasizi
Mr Musasizi indicated in an interview that the money was not meant for Covid-19 detection but for establishment of Intensive Care Units (ICUs) at the regional referral hospitals.
Members of the budget committee were told by the Governor of the Central Bank, Mr Michael Atingi-Ego that the government had during the Covid-19 pandemic failed to pay back the redeemed securities and treasury bills and bonds leading to Shs3 trillion debt.
Mr Atingi-Ego indicated that an agreement was reached to have the government clear the arrears in two instalments each worth Shs1.25 trillion beginning with the current financial year.
He however, told the committee that the treasury was yet to pay a penny, a situation he warned could lead to huge inflationary pressures.
MPs established that the agreement for the treasury to pay Shs1.25 trillion in two instalments would bring the amount to Shs2.5 trillion out of the demanded Shs3 trillion.
Mr Atingi-Ego did not furnish the MPs with an answer on how the remainder of the money would be cleared which caused concern among the lawmakers that it could be written off.
The Butambala County MP Muwanga Kivumbi who also serves as the shadow Finance minister said at the meeting that it was one of the ways the Central Bank reserves had reduced.
