MPs Reject Shs43 Trillion Budget Over Inconsistent Figures

Amos Lugoloobi, the State Minister for Planning

Legislators of the Budget Committee have rejected the 2022/2023 national budget framework paper after realizing that the figures officials from Ministry of Finance had presented were inconsistent from those the Ministry had tabled before Parliament in December, when the 2022/2023 National Budget Framework Paper was presented.

The decision followed a procedural issue raised by Muwanga Kivumbi (Butambala County) who pointed out the discrepancies in the figures Amos Lugoloobi, the State Minister for Planning had presented, tasking the Ministry to clearly explain which documents Parliament should adopt for scrutiny.

The figures he is reading in this statement, most of them aren’t the same with the ones in the budget framework paper. For example human resource development, he is talking about Shs6.1Trn, here it is Shs6.5Trn, if you talk about security, it is Shs6.4Trn. You can go on and on all those figures, those figures don’t tally. Which figures are we following? Kivumbi asked.

In response, Lugoloobi asked the Committee to ignore the figures in the first National Budget Framework Paper and consider the latest document he had presented.

“Officially, let us take figures in the new document we have laid before parliament. There could have been some human era, so for the time being, let us take the figures that are here,” said Lugoloobi.

However, Patrick Isiagi, Chairperson Budget Committee rejected Lugoloobi’s plea, asking the Finance team to go back and harmonise the figures before the Committee can consider the national budget framework paper.

“The Budget framework paper was laid, an addendum was laid, therefore there is need to come up with harmonized figures which are expected to have been done by the Minister in his presentation. As we speak, we have realized that that they aren’t well coordinated,” said Isiagi.

Henry Musasizi, State Minister for Finance General Duties defended the inconsistencies in the figures, describing them as a small anomaly, saying the national budget framework paper is largely a working document, and it isn’t a budget, therefore figures keep changing.

He said, “We presented a National Budget Framework Paper in December 2022, later on we presented an addendum, between the time we presented there is Shs1.2Trn which wasn’t captured in the previous NBFP which we have now captured through reallocation. When you look at the figures they are talking about, the bottom line remains the same, what changes is the movement that has come about due to reallocation, but this is something we can harmonise.”

Budget At Glance

In the 2022/2023 national budget framework paper, the resource envelop is worth Shs43.083Trn and according to the latest figures, Shs15Trn will go towards loan and interest payment.

Governance and security will take the lion’s share accounting for Shs6.184Trn, while Human Capital Development will account for Shs6.172Trn, Transport and Infrastructure Shs4.776Trn.

Climate Change, Natural Resources, Water and Environment has been allocated Shs2.086Trn, Agro-industrialisation Shs1.340Bn, while Regional Development Shs1.234Trn, Sustainable Energy Development Shs1.107Trn, Development Plan Implementation Shs1.024Trn.

Legislation Shs686.6Bnn, Private Sector Development Shs664.1Bn, Urbanisation and Housing Shs387.8Bn, Administration of Justice Shs383Bn, Innovation and Technology Shs227.5Bn, Manufacturing Shs72Bn, Tourism Development Shs149Bn.

The other allocations include, Public Sector Transformation Shs276Bn and Digital Transformation Shs212.9Bn.