Parliament tasks seven ministries to present policy statements

Kampala, Uganda  | THE INDEPENDENT |  Parliament has tasked seven ministries and agencies to present their policy statements on Monday. 

Ministerial policy statements are documents that set out the performance and plans of government agencies, linking them with their policy objectives. The Budget Act (2001) provides that Parliament shall use these statements to assess the performance of every sector. 

The statements, tabled on an annual basis, summarize the past performance of the sector and the plans for future expenditure and activities. They outline anticipated sector challenges and strategies to overcome them. They also present planned outputs and the costing, final work plans, cash plans, and staffing structure and procurement plans of the sector.  

The Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) 2015 requires government ministries, departments and agencies to present their ministerial policy statements to Parliament for scrutiny by March 15, every year.

On Thursday, the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga noted that 7 out of the 28 ministries and agencies had not presented their policy statements for the financial year 2020/2021.  The affected MDAs include agriculture, education, justice and Kampala Capital City Authority-KCCA. 

David Bahati, the Minister of State for Planning at Finance ministry, assured the House that all the ministerial policy statements for MDAs would be presented by Monday.   

Earlier, the Minister State for Labour, Mwesigwa Rukutana pleaded with Parliament to allow ministers to hard copies” to the office of the Clerk to Parliament.

However, Bugweri county MP Abdul Katuntu rejected the request, insisting that ministers must respect the provisions of the PFMA and Budget Act.

Lwemiyaga County MP Theodore Sekikubo urged Kadaga to take action instead of reminding ministers to follow the law.

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