A meeting convened to scrutinize the National Budget Framework Paper at Parliament has flopped after a no-show by the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development Matia Kasaija.
A proposed 49.9 trillion Shillings National Budget Framework Paper, detailing financial proposals and estimates for the next financial year was tabled before Parliament on December 23, 2022, in line with provisions of the Public Finance Management Act which require that the document be submitted before Parliament by December 31.
It was then referred to the Budget committee and other relevant sectoral committees for consideration. But as they convened for the first session today, Budget Committee Chairperson, Patrick Isiagi Opolot told the meeting that the Ministry officials were unable to attend because they were still away for the festive break.
The meeting which was attended by the Chairpersons of the 15 Sectoral Committees of Parliament, faulted the Ministry of Finance for not taking the roles seriously which violates their commitment to the Charter of Fiscal responsibility to reduce inefficiencies and waste of taxpayers’ money. The committee is expected to report back to Parliament on January 20.
Mawogola South MP Gorreth Namugga demanded that the Minister of Finance be tasked to respond in writing for failing to attend today’s meeting.
Isiagi explained that among the pertinent issues lined up for discussion is the Finance Ministry’s decision to shift recently from sector-based budgeting to program-based budgeting because scrutinizing the funds under programmes is an uphill task.
Kiboga East MP Keefa Kiwanuka, who chairs the Finance Committee observed that whereas the budget framework has been presented in programme formats, the Finance Committee specifically needs to deal with the budget in terms of the different votes.
Meanwhile, West Budama South Member of Parliament Dr Emmanuel Otaala, the Chairperson of the Parliamentary committee on Environment pointed out that there is no linkage between the shift with the budget framework paper.
The FY2023/2024 estimates increased by 1.85 trillion from the 48.13 trillion approved budget for the current financial year 2022/2023.
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