The Opposition in the Ugandan Parliament has called out the ruling government for discrepancies in figures on Uganda’s public debt portfolio.
In a minority report on the FY2024/25 budget framework paper presented on Thursday, January 25, 2024, the opposition legislators said while the Ministry of Finance puts the public debt of Ugx.86.7 trillion, the Auditor General in his report to Parliament says it is at Ugx.97.499 trillion and the Bank of Uganda puts it at 88.8 trillion.
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“To arrive at the Ugx. 97.499 trillion figure, the Auditor General reports that Debt Stock has increased by 111% in the last five years from Shs 46 Trillion in 2018 to Shs 97 Trillion by 2023,” the minority report signed by Ssemujju Nganda (Kira Municipality), Yusuf Nsibambi (Mawokota South), Muwada Nkunyingi (Kyadondo East) and Evans Kanyinke (Bokoto Central) reads in part.
The MPs said the NRM is now just borrowing for fun, which explains why loans worth Shs14.5Trn remain unutilized, and yet these are attracting interest.
According to Hon. Ssemujju, their areas of dissent from the report of the Budget Committee are; Non-compliance of the NBFP 2024/25 with the law, suspicious domestic revenue figures, conflicting public debt figures, reckless borrowing, and wastefulness
“This Financial year alone we have so far grown the public debt by Shs 9.329 Trillion (10.74%) because in June 2022, it was Shs 86.839 Trillion. Growing the Public Debt Burden is one area where the NRM has excelled and registered unenviable and undisputable growth. Sometimes, this government borrows for fun,” the report says.
“For example, the Auditor General on page 45 of his report says, that Shs 14.5 Trillion loans borrowed remain unutilized. The explanation given to the Auditor General by the Secretary to the Treasury is “un-readiness of projects at loan/grant contracting stage, delays in fulfilling both disbursement and effectiveness conditions, poor project management, absence of counterpart funds, and slow land acquisition,” it adds.
For God’s sake if your project is not designed, why do you borrow money? Can you imagine, we have been fined Shs 5.564 billion for cancelling a loan we picked from AFD and KFW to finance the Muzizi hydropower plant? It is our considered opinion that before you approve the BFP, you need to know the total amount you owe.”
The Opposition also decried the wasteful expenditure within the Government, wondering why the Presidency should have 1,757 staff, yet only 14 out of the 28 beds in the Intensive Care Unit of Mulago Hospital are functional, due to a shortage of staff.
“Can you justify the President employing 761 staff in his office and 996 staff at his residence? Our leader employs at his residence at taxpayers’ expense 51 cleaners, 52 cooks/chef/ catering officers, 80 gardeners, 29 housekeepers, 10 dhobi and laundry attendants, 106 private secretaries, 14 room attendants, 22 presidential assistants, 59 waitress/waiters and 14 presidential advisors. If this is not wastage, what is it? And these days the main work at State House is organizing birthday parties & wedding anniversaries,” noted Ssemujju.
“There are people in this Parliament who claim to love President Museveni more than Dr.Kizza Besigye who treated him when they were fighting in Luwero. Even if you are one of them, you cannot justify the President keeping 266 vehicles at his residence (State House) & 400 vehicles under his office yet the total number of ambulances in Public facilities is 178. The convoy alone is 69 vehicles,” he added.
The Ministry of Finance indicated that the 2024/25 budget framework paper is projected at UShs52.722Trn, of which, the Uganda Revenue Authority is expected to collect UShs 29.957Trn in taxes.
The government plans to spend Shs23.977Trn on debt repayment and obligations, while at the same time borrowing UShs8.876Trn from external lenders to finance several projects and secure additional loans to the tune of UShs 4.116Trn from the domestic market.
Meanwhile, the Budget Committee also wants the Government to embark on the process of exiting 111 international organizations, in fulfillment of recommendations from a study earlier conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Uganda subscribes to 308 international organisations and a study found that only 197 organisations are relevant. Parliament’s proposal comes at a time when many agencies in Government have accumulated arrears in subscription fees to international organizations.
