The Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) is seeking for Shs89.7Bn to pursue the Allied Defence Forces (ADF) rebels that the army claims are holed up in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The details are contained in the documents tabled by officials of Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs who had appeared before Parliament’s Committee of Defence and Internal Affairs to defend the 2022/2023 budget framework paper.
According to the documents submitted before the Committee, the Ministry of Defence submitted a budgetary request of Shs6.736Trn out of which, Shs3.353Trn was approved for allocation, leaving the army to grapple with a budget shortfall of Shs3.383Trn.
Among the unfunded priorities is the Shs89.7Bn for Operation Shujja that has no single allocation approved to the expenditure.
It should be recalled that in November 2021, the UPDF hit the jungles of Eastern DRC to smoke ADF rebels that are accused of masterminding the twin bombings that rocked Kampala leading to the death of three people while 30 others were left nursing injuries.
Reacting to the budgetary request, Muwanga Kivumbi (Butambala County) protested the request saying the current Uganda’s economy cannot afford such an expenditure because Government has failed to raise money for the Parish Development Model and raised wages for health workers.
“It demands we have a quick exit from the DRC and what that clearly speaks to is priorities of Uganda. Countries cannot afford the luxury of wars. It is high time we invest money in pace initiatives. That is the full implication of that amount of money,” said Kivumbi.
Asked to divulge details on how the money will be spent, Jacob Oboth, State Minister for Defence refused to provide a breakdown of the figures saying the document hasn’t been formally tabled before the Committee.
He said, “Take it that is a [presented] document because the committee didn’t even want to look at it. So we can’t answer questions on it until we present.”
His remarks were in response to a decision by the Committee to throw out the Ministry of Defence after fracas ensued before the officials and Defence Committee members after they failed to explain the absence of Vincent Sempijja and the Chief of Defence Forces Gen Wilson Mbadi.
