Skip to main content

Finance Minister Kasaija summoned over discrepancies in the Budget


Parliament Speaker, Rebecca Kadaga, has directed the Minister of Finance, Matia Kasaija, to explain discrepancies contained in his Budget speech presented last week and the National Budget for 2020/2021 as approved by the House.  

“The Minister is required to come here tomorrow to explain the variances between the Appropriation Bill we passed here and the speech he made on the budget day,” said Kadaga adding that “We also want to know if the President assented to this Appropriation Bill, where did these figures come from?”
The directive follows a complaint raised by the Chairperson of Parliament’s Budget Committee, Amos Lugoolobi, who cited figures mentioned by Kasaija on Thursday 11 June 2020 that differ from those within the approved budget.
Lugoloobi said that whereas Parliament appropriated Shs400 billion for payment of arrears owed by government to private sector firms, the minister mentioned Shs673 billion in his address.
He added that although Parliament approved Shs38.5 billion towards the export promotion strategy the minister mentioned Shs138 billion for the activity.
On the roll out of the Social Assistance Grant for the Elderly (SAGE), Parliament approved Shs66 billion but Minister Kasaija put it at Shs107 billion.
Lugoloobi said that the Minister made an error when he mentioned Shs94 billion as credit allocated to small and medium scale enterprises through Saccos, because Parliament appropriated Shs40 billion towards the same intervention.
Lugoolobi highlighted several other discrepancies in the budget speech including Shs225 billion for talent support yet the approved budget had Shs100 billion.
He said it was dangerous to have such a budget speech as there are legal implications regarding the budget process.  
“We have a law governing the budget process, if there are changes by government they must be communicated for approval to Parliament before they are pronounced to the public,” said Lugoloobi.
Legislators said it was insufficient for the minister to simply explain the inconsistences to Parliament, proposing that he appears before and offers an explanation to the Committee on Rules, Discipline and Privileges of Parliament.
“I do not think it is sufficient for him to just come here and explain, let him face the Rules Committee, because this is a constitutional matter; it is a serious matter of national importance,” said Patrick Oshabe.
Bugabula South County MP, Maurice Kibalya, remarked “there are things we can allow to be taken for granted but not manipulating the budget, we can’t have the budget that we debated and approved only for the minister to come on the last day to fool us.”
Kadaga noted that this was a unique case saying that for long time, the Minister’s speech delivered on the budget day has been in agreement with Parliament’s approved budget.
She advised that Parliament will base on the minister’s statement to decide if he should appear before the Committee on Rules.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Crysto Panda clears his fans about the lost of his newly born baby

NTV Dance Party host, Crysto Panda, today being Father’s day informed his lovely fans and followers that he lost his  newly born baby  two weeks a go. Through his Instagram page, Crysto Panda posted the sad news as below; “Thank you so much to whoever has wished me A Happy father’s Day  But unfortunately I am so sorry to inform y’all that I lost my daughter Two weeks back  My baby got tired during delivery and because of that she got dead brain   cells which caused multiple seizure attacks , Because she was still young the doctors couldn’t operate her because her skull was still soft , so they suggested we hold up abit longer she grows like we do the operation in two months  But as you know the seizures became many and she couldn’t take it any longer so she passed on when she was a month old  Many of y’all have been asking me about her of late and I wasn’t brave enough to speak about it  and that’s why also I wasn’t posting ab...
1 comment
Read more

Schools Will remain closed, Read the full speech below.

President Museveni in his 16th address on Corona virus updates speaks about the reopening of schools and other educational institutions and he said Education institutions will stay closed. Its still too risky to open schools. In the meantime, government will launch a big long-distance education programme through radios. Each homestead will get a radio set. He however added on the boarder districts, Museveni said the lockdown in the following border districts can be relaxed: Amudat, Bududa, Bukwo, Bundibugyo, Buvuma, Hoima, Isingiro, Kaabong, Kabale, Kalangala, Kanungu, Kasese, Kikuube, Kisoro, Kitgum, Koboko, Kween, Lamwo, Maracha, Mayuge, Moroto, Namayingo, Namisindwa, Ntoroko. Museveni added tr avel in and out of Uganda for medical reasons should be barred, in principle. However, Ministry of Health and other agencies can handle case by case. M7 also said salons will stay closed. Activities here involve close contact between/among people. Contact tracing would be dif...
Post a Comment
Read more

The brains behind Kampala City development.

Left to right: Paul Lubega, John Bosco Muwonge, John Ssebalamu, Christine Ssebalamu, her sister Gertrude and Resty during the Ssebalamus wedding anniversary at Saint Mary’s Cathedral at Rubaga in Kampala on January 7, 2018. Inset are some of the buildings they own in Kampala City. In the 1980, Paul Lubega, John Bosco Muwonge, John Ssebalamu, Haruna Ssegawa, and their sister Christine Nabukeera, say they worked closely together running businesses in Masaka to become a family of first generation billionaires they are. At Najjanankumbi, on the Kampala-Entebbe Road, there is an imposing piece of architecture. The unmissable building, called Freedom City, houses a hotel, children’s play area, shops and an assortment of other businesses. Industry players say Mr John Ssebalamu, the owner of the building, spent an estimated $30m (about Shs111b) to erect it. Mr Ssebalamu, born in Kasanje, Kalungu District, is a cog in a family of first generation billionaires who own a significant p...
Post a Comment
Read more