Finance ministry increases supplementary request by UGX 390B

Kampala, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT |   The Ministry of Finance is seeking to add another 390 billion Shillings to the supplementary request of 3.426 trillion Shillings currently before the Parliamentary committee. The request puts the supplementary budget at 3.853 trillion Shillings.  

The first supplementary is to finance a classified budget of up to 1.5 trillion Shillings for the Ministry of Defence and veteran Affairs and State House, and a cover a 20 per cent contribution (201 billion Shillings) towards the  construction of the 223 kilometres of roads in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), among others.  

According to the addendum written by Finance Minister Matia Kasaija to Parliament, following the meeting with the Budget Committee of Parliament, the Ministry was asked to provide additional funding to Local Governments who returned COVID-19 money, and different government departments. He explains that 357 billion Shillings, from the additional request, will go to local government as a transfer of funds from the former Municipalities to the newly created cities.

At least 23.81 billion Shillings will be transferred from Arua District to the newly created District of Terego, 2.091 billion Shillings for local governments response to COVID-19, and 4.5 billion Shillings for salaries for Mbarara and Jinja Regional Referral hospitals. Up o 600 million Shillings will be for the purchase of transport equipment for the Presidential Advisor on Africa Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA), and 483 million Shillings will go to the Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA).

During the first sitting of the committee, MPs specifically questioned the plan by Uganda’s contribution to the construction of roads inside DRC.  They also questioned the consistent classified expenditure to Statehouse and Ministry of Defense.

The committee is expected to sit this week to scrutinize the proposal. The supplementary request comes just a month into the second quarter of the financial year.

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