MPs want UGX 400Bn allocated to Science and Technology Ministry

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Members of Parliament on the Committee on Science, Technology, and Innovation have recommended that the Science and technology sector be allocated 400 billion shillings in the 2019/2020 financial year.

According to the ministerial statement for 2019/2020, the sector has been allocated 159.7 billion shillings, a decrease from the 184 billion shillings in the 2018/2019 budget.  In the 2017/2018 budget, the sector was allocated 71.9 billion shillings.

The committee chairperson, Fred Bwino, says that the government has not given the sector the required funding as stipulated in the second National Development Plan.

The committee, however, notes that allocating even the one percent share of the national budget is still below the minimum target of 1 percent of the country’s GDP as set by the African Union states on funding for the research and development.

The ministry is mandated to among others, enhance the integration of science, technology, and innovation into the national development processes, to enhance Research and Development in Uganda and to improve the Science, Technology regulatory framework.

Also, the ministry covers the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST), (KMC) Limited and Presidential Initiative on Banana Industrial Development (PIBID).

Bwino says that additional funds to the sector will cater for say 12.4 billion shillings as counterpart funding for the National Science and Engineering Project for which parliament approved a loan that will be financed by a US $ 84.7 Million Dollar loan from the Exim Bank of China. The government committed to provide counterpart funding of US $15 Million dollars spread over five years.

The committee noted that while the first loan disbursement of 114 billion shillings was provided for in the 2018/2019 budget, no counterpart funding was budgeted for.

Therefore, the finance ministry should allocate 72.4 billion shillings in 2019/2020 budget as counterpart funding and also provide 174 billion shillings for the second loan disbursement to kick start the project.

The committee also wants 35 billion shillings allocated to the Innovation Fund.

The Innovation Fund was established in the financial year 2003/2004 as a mechanism to strengthen scientific research and innovations, support commercialization of products, adaptation, and transfer of technologies among others. However, the Fund has not been allocated any money since financial year 2018/2019 after parliament halted provision of funds owing to absence of a legal framework to support the application of the Fund.

The committee also proposes that a total of 4.7 billion shillings is reallocated from the budgets of the ministry and Kiira Motors Corporation Limited (KMC) to the budget of the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology.

The committee noted that although KMC was given 13.1 billion shillings by end of December 2018, works only commenced in February 2019 such as the construction of the Kiira Vehicle Assembly Shop and offices. Therefore, the committee wants 4 billion removed from the KMC budget because it may not absorb all its funds of 24 billion shillings in the 2019/2020 financial year.

The Mbale Municipality MP Jack Wamanga say that the Science and technology ministry is not relevant in meeting the current needs of the country while Patrick Nsamba of Kasanda North and Anne Maria Nankabirwa (Kyankwanzi woman MP) says that the Innovation Fund, if reinstated, must be used for supporting people with innovations, and also guidelines must be set on how to access the fund.

After the heated debate, parliament adopted the committee report on the ministerial statement for science, technology and innovation and its proposals for reallocation and allocations have been referred to the budget committee for consideration.

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URN