Analysts say Uganda’s national budgets are unrealistic
A section of MPs on Parliament’s Trade Committee have admitted that the national budgets they have been approving are ambitious and unrealistic, with evidence indicating that Government hasn’t been able to raise even Shs50Trn in the any of the last three financial years, despite the planned budget reaching Shs72.313Trn in this current Financial Year.
The admission was made by Elijah Mushemeza (Sheema South) during the Trade Committee’s interface with representative from the Civil Society Organisations that had appeared to present their views on the 2025/26 Budget Framework Paper for the Trade and Industrialisation sectors, where he urged the activists to boost Government and Parliament efforts in making realistic budgets.
“The main challenge of Uganda dilly-dallying. Government has already realized that the Shs72Trn budget can’t work, I will also argue in plenary that even the Shs57Trn budget is unrealistic; we need to cut down to what we can raise because Parliament through the Public Accounts Committee was able to analyze that in the last three financial years, Ministry of Finance warranted around Shs45Trn,” said Mushemeza.
He defended his remarks noting that when Government warrant a certain budget line, it means that is the money Government is ready to release but even what was warranted wasn’t released which means, the Ugandan Government from loans, Uganda Revenue collections and grants hasn’t raised Shs50Trn in the last three financial years.
“So, there will be no miracle that in this financial year, the Government will raised Shs57Trn. That is where you need to do more research and beef up Parliament and Ministry of Tourism to come up with realistic outputs if invested to realize that we need a realistic budget and prioritize those areas that will bring fast income,” added Mushemeza.
His remarks come at the time in December 2024, Government tabled the 2025/26 National Budget Framework Paper, revealing plans to spend UGX57.441Trn, indicating a drop of Shs14.695 Trillion from the Shs72.137 trillion in the current FY 2024/25.
During the interface, Jonathan Lubega, Policy Analyst at Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI) decried lack of Government’s prioritization in the trade negotiations, saying this has at times condemned Ugandan traders to unfair trade terms, citing the recent conditions imposed by European Union to export coffee in their region, saying the limited involvement of Parliament in such negotiations would cost Ugandans.
“We need to amplify more these negotiations so that we aren’t hit hard by the repercussions. So, we need to see and foster our negotiations capacity in this rate. We recommend the national trade sector advisory council to be adequately funded to ensure adequate consultations of the ongoing negotiations and Parliament and other relevant Committees should be briefed about these negotiations to enable them undertake their oversight roles from a more informed point of view,” noted Lubega.
Lubega noted that although trade negotiations are a critical area, this hasn’t been funded in the Budget Framework Paper yet the main strategy for this programme is export promotion and getting more market abroad, warning that if Government doesn’t have funds for negotiations, Uganda won’t achieve its trade ambitions.
“We had a deadline of 30th December for Uganda’s coffee to be exported to the European Union but Parliament wasn’t effectively informed of this and no wonder, the budget allocated to facilitate that process was very law and also the awareness of the policy makers was also low,” argued Lubega.
