Parliament reconsiders 2024 appropriation bill, shs750billion reallocated

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Tempers flared between backbench MPS and the Executive when Parliament reconvened on Tuesday to consider the Appropriations Bill 2024.

The speaker of Parliament, Annet Anita Among recalled the legislators from recess to reconsider the Appropriations Bill 2024.

While the Parliament had approved the Bill in mid-May, President Museveni refused to assent to it. The President was protesting the fact that the Parliament had made a reallocation to the budget to the tune of over 750 billion shillings.

The President in the opening paragraph of his letter to the Speaker of Parliament highlighted what he described as a mistake of MPS interfering with the constitutional mandate of the President in budgeting for the country by reallocating money for core sectors of the economy.

“In the last four financial years, the MPs have reallocated a total of Shs 3.7 trillion. This is real sabotage. When we reconstructed Kampala-Masaka road, we used Shs 440 Billion. Therefore diverting 3.7 Trillion in four years is equivalent to aborting 9 big roads of Kampala-Masaka,” said Museveni in a letter dated June 22nd.

The president’s letter referred to the arrest of three Members of Parliament accused of asking for a kickback from the Uganda Humans Rights Commission chairperson, Mariam Wangadya.

Museveni said he had raised the matter of MPs shuffling the budget in 2020.“Yet the practice goes on. There are three mistakes involved here. These are indiscipline in budgeting, sabotaging national priorities, and now suspicion of massive corruption”. He “requested” that no reshuffling of the budget should ever happen again without the input of the Executive.

An atmosphere of suspicion hung in the air as the Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among steered the House to correct the “anomaly” that had emerged as the executive arm of the government accused the legislature of usurping its role of appropriation.

Among repeatedly said there was not any aspect of corruption related to the way the legislators reallocated the budget.

Finance Minister, Matia Kasaija, moved the motion as per article 91(3) B of the constitution and rule 143 of Parliament’s Rules of Procedure. Kasaija had a tough time moving the motion. MPs kept on disrupting him.

With the allegations of corruption during the budgeting process, still fresh, the president’s refusal to assent to the Bill needed to operationalize the 2024/2025 was suspect.

Ibanda North MP, Xavier Akampulira then stood up the Minister was saying the President was not happy.

Akampulira has suggested the President’s compliments to the parliament on the budget day should be expunged from the Hansard. The Speaker did not however rule on the matter as she ensured that the House did not turn rowdy.

Matia Kasaija reminded Parliament of Article 156 of the Constitution and Parliament’s Rules of procedure, the schedule to the appropriation Bill must contain the allocations as appropriated by the Committee of Supply.

Under normal circumstances, the Speaker of Parliament would have referred the President’s request to the Budget Committee but the rules of Parliament also provide for the House to reconstitute itself into a committee of supply.

The Speaker chose to move to the Committee of Supply as several MPS stood up seeking to interrupt the Minister who was expected to speak to the motion.

Within the Parliament, some MPS were overheard alleging that the Parliament’s budget Committee had turned into a scene of crime.

The Committee Chaired by Patrick Isiagi has 66 members including the three who were remanded.  The Committee masterminded the reshuffling or alterations of the budget.

Seemingly angered, Patrick Isaigi stood and said “Honorable colleagues let’s be fair to each other when you call the budget committee a scene of crime, and corrupt let’s come up clear. Who does what in the process of budgeting? Let’s remind ourselves of the process of budgeting,” Isiagi pleaded.

Some MPS against interrupted him. “Why is it becoming better when we are making things clear? “ asked Isiagi as he finally yielded the floor the the State Minister for Finance in charge of General Duties, Henry Musasizi.

Musasizi indeed confirmed that the budget committee had reallocated aspects of the 2024/2025 budget whose Appropriations Bill was endorsed on 16th May 2024.

He confirmed that among the sectors affected was the capitalization of Uganda Development Bank to the tune of 30 billion.

The Ministry of Energy had suffered most of the shifting of its budget. For example, the rural electrification vote had suffered a 15 billion reduction.

Musasizi highlighted several other sectors that had been affected by the actions leading to the president’s refusal to assent to the appropriation Bill.

It should be noted that the money had been shifted to government units like the purchase of tractors to constituencies. That raises the suspicion that the MPS were shifting resources closer to their constituencies

Experts in budgeting on Monday told Uganda Radio Network on Monday that the Parliament had erred by altering the budget as presented by the Executive. However, some MPS were reluctant to have the money returned to the original vote as appropriated.

“As members of Parliament, we are representatives of the people. We are only reviewing what they have presented to us. To remove that money from where we have put as Parliament, it means that we are useless actually; the budget should have not been brought,” said a female MP.

The speaker insisted that the budgeting process is a consultative one.  “We want to know where the money is coming from. And where is going,” Anita among guided.

As the debate proceeded, it was clear that MPs were about to concede to have the budget revised as per the president’s request.

Kiira MP, Ssemujju Nganda however threw the spanner in the works when he suggested that 300 billion shillings that the executives asked to be shifted was to be paid to Roko Contactors, a local construction firm

“We have 300 billion which they are reinstating to pay to Roko which is a private company. Remember this Parliament gave Roko 270 billion. This is a private company,” Ssemujju said.

The Attorney General, Kiryowa Kiwanuka told Parliament that the money was in line with a motion by Parliament that the government should buy shares into Roko.

In justifying the shuffling of the budget allocations, Patrick Isaigi said the committee had made the reallocations to cater for what he described as critical unfunded priorities’

Losers as Parliament Admits Mistake

“The house must note that the Ministry of Agriculture had had its budget reduced for mechanization from shs145 billion shillings to shs80 billion. So we thought we should give an additional shs50 billion for the procurement of tractors,” explained Isiagi.

The Committee had made a reallocation of eight billion for the construction of 140 sub-county offices. It had provided 2.5 billion shillings for grant-aiding primary schools, 16.5 billion for grant-aiding secondary schools, and 10 billion shillings for the construction of 13 seed schools.

The Uganda Allied Health Examinations Board will suffer a setback as the Parliament shifted 900 million shillings meant for salaries shifted to its original vote.

The Uganda Nurses Examination Board will not have the two billion shillings meant for monitoring nurses and midwives. Equally Uganda National Examinations Baord will not operate as expected as the funds that had been allocated by MPS were reinstated to where they belonged. The Ministry of Health will have fewer ambulances to buy.  The funds that MPS had reallocated 27 billion shillings for the purchase of the ambulances at constituencies will not be available in the budget.

The Ministry of Karamojong will this time around not purchase any iron sheets because the money provided under that reallocation will not be available.

The Committee had provided 8 billion shillings. Prime Minister Robina Nabanja under whose docket the Karamoja is defended the move.

“The budget is a document that reflects the priorities of the government as headed by the head of State. The budget committee reallocated 8 billion to purchase iron sheets in my office for Karamoja. We are saying Karamoja now; we need to work on water so that those people can produce their own food,” said Nabanja.

At the end of the day, all the money that had been reshuffled was reinstated as per the president’s request.

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