Henry Musasizi, Minister of State for Finance
Government has presented a Shs288.624Bn supplementary schedule with less than two months to the end of the Financial Year 2023/24. According to Government, Shs132.634Bn is meant for purchase of shares in the East African Oil Pipeline (EACOP) by the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC), while Shs152Bn is meant for the construction of the Hoima City Stadium by National Council of Sports in preparation for the 2027 African Cup of Nations.
Shs1.490Bn is needed for the post NAM Summit activities, while Uganda Blood Transfusion has been allocated Shs2.5Bn to meet the shortfall in the operational budget for the UBTS for blood collection, processing and distribution.
Henry Musasizi, Minister of State for Finance, defended the request for the third supplementary budget before Parliament’s Budget Committee noting that the funding for Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) is needed for additional equity acquisition in East African Crude Oil Pipeline to meet the cash call arising from delayed financial close by the financiers.
“This is required before 1st July 2024 in order to meet the funding obligations in the EACOP projects. This funding will be accessed from the Petroleum Fund in line with the Section 59(3) of the Public Finance Management Act 2015. Shs400Bn is currently in the petroleum Fund, I propose to utilize Shs284.634Bn in line with the Section 59(3) of the PFMA to finance the acquisition of equity in East African Crude oil Pipeline and construction of Hoima City Stadium,” remarked Musasizi.
He added that Uganda Blood Transfusion Services (UBTS) is also in need of Shs 2.5 billion to meet the shortfall in the operational budget for the UBTS for blood collection, processing and distribution for this Quarter and the funds for these activities will be funded using savings from wage after the audit of the wage bill.
To fund the construction of the Hoima City Stadium, Government has proposed to draw funds from the Petroleum Fund by proposing that the National Council of Sports is provided Shs152Bn as 30% advance payment for the construction of Hoima City Stadium in preparation for AFCON27. This funding will enable the contractor (M/S Summa) commence on construction of the stadium to be ready before the deadline of 31st December 2025 required by Confederation of African Football (CAF) for Uganda to co-host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations,” added Musasizi.
Following Uganda’s assumption of Chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement, the Ministry of Finance has proposed to have the Uganda Embassy in Geneva be given additional Shs1.49 billion to address a funding shortfall arising from a loss of poundage.
Minister Musasizi stated, “The Mission requires funds for accumulated dues on rent, salaries, medical insurance, utilities. This needs to be settled by the end of the financial year to avoid legal action from landlords, service providers and contract staff. This will be funded using savings from wage after the Audit of the wage bill.”
According to the Ministry of Finance, the latest supplementary budget will be funded through savings from Wage following the audit report on Government’s payroll that saw Shs3.99Bn saved, while Petroleum Fund Withdrawals worth Shs284.634Bn will fund the proposed activities in the supplementary schedule.
However, Patrick Isiagi, Chairperson Budget Committee rejected the Supplementary request describing it as illegal because it didn’t follow the normal procedures of having the request tabled before Parliament before having it referred for processing by the Budget Committee.
“The Supplementary Budget as per the law is the business for the whole House, the whole House can only delegate it to the budget committee to do the processing on their behalf or the whole House can process it. Now that this letter for the Supplementary request is dated 13th May 2024, and when you look at all those days from 13th May 2024 to date, the House hasn’t sat, it therefore means that this hasn’t become business of the House and as such, there is no way House could have delegated this Committee to handle it on their behalf,” remarked Isiagi.
“As such, it will be illegal for this Committee to start processing this supplementary request until it becomes business of the House and then the House will decide either to process it there or delegate it to this Committee,” added Isiagi.
Lulume Bayiga (Buikwe South) asked Minister Musasizi to tap into his seniority and avoid bringing an illegal supplementary request to the Committee next time noting, “The Minister Musasizi being a senior member of the house shouldn’t repeat this way of doing things again.”
It should be recalled that Parliament has so far approved supplementary expenditures amounting to Shs4.495Trn for 2023/24.
