Gov’t bans buying of new cars next financial year

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | No government agency will be allowed to purchase new cars in the 2019/20 financial year. Money initially intended for the vehicles will now be reallocated to other activities, according to Kenneth Mugambe, the Director Budget at the Ministry of Finance.

Mugambe told a breakfast budget meeting organized by Uganda Revenue Authority at Hotel Africana in Kampala, today, that the decision is intended to cut on excesses of government expenditure.

He said that the government was spending up 100 billion Shillings annually buying new cars, an expenditure that was eating into the country’s resource envelop and reducing on resources for social services. The government runs a fleet of hundreds of cars every day that cost taxpayers in terms of fuel, repairs, and the general wear and tear.

The technocrat also added that the government would consider leasing of cars instead of paying for maintenance which also runs in billions of Shillings. “This is an opportunity that the private sector can tap into,” said Mugambe, adding that when leasing, the responsibility for tear and wear lies squarely on the owner instead of the government.

Mugambe indicated that the agencies that will go ahead and buy cars will most likely be running donor projects that have buying cars as a component in them. Mugambe said much of the budget money in the coming financial year will be spent on development expenditure – up to 50 per cent then rest would go to consumption.

The decision would indicate success for a move by Kira municipality MP Ibrahim SSemujju Nganda, who last year tabled a motion in parliament to review the provision of vehicles to leaders, public, civil servants and politicians.

According to Nganda, with the exception of the President, Vice President, The Speaker of Parliament, The Deputy Speaker and the Leader of Opposition, Chief Justice and Deputy Chief Justice, government should abolish the provision of vehicles to the rest of the leaders and civil servants and instead, support them to acquire loans and buy their own vehicles. Nganda’s proposal was rejected then.

Uganda is expected to run a budget of 40.5 trillion Shillings but only about half of that is expected to come from local revenues. The remainder will come from either donors or borrowing.  state Minister for Finance David Bahati said that the government’s strategy was to spend on areas that would facilitate growth Ugandans in their ventures.

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