KAMPALA: The Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development has released Shs5.335 trillion as government of Uganda expenditure for the third quarter of the current financial year 2021/2022.
The Shs5.335 trillion is 23.4% of the approved budget. To date, Shs 17,736.84 trillion of the approved budget has been released cumulatively, which is 77.7% of the approved budget.
The Shs5.3 trillion includes Shs1.442.11 trillion for enhanced lunch allowances for medical workers and the balance of 50% of missions’ salaries.
In the new expenditure, health institutions and social protection got Shs 349.07 billion. The funding is mainly for national medical stores (Shs120.73 billion for essential drugs); the Ministry of Health (Shs92.44 billion); and the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (Shs42.53 billion), of which SAGE has Shs32.73 billion and referral hospitals have Shs23.79 billion.
Shs1.290 trillion in security and the presidency combined. The funding is mainly for the Ministry of Defence — Shs 857.715 billion, of which Shs 514 billion is to cater for classified equipment. Shs301 billion is for operations, including the Supplementary Budget.
State House has Shs95.76 billion; Uganda Police Shs146.12 billion; Ministry of Internal Affairs-Shs16.86 billion; Internal Security Organisation-Shs28.8 billion; External Security Organisation-Shs 6.75 billion; Directorate of Government Analytical Laboratories-Shs 6.49 billion; Office of the Prime Minister-Shs27.67 billion.
Uganda Prisons (Shs58.27 billion) and agriculture and industry have a combined Shs231.905 billion. The funding is mainly for the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries: Shs 37.35 billion; the Min. of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives: Shs 86.91 billion; the National Agricultural Advisory Secretariat: Shs 31.44 billion; the Uganda Coffee Development Authority: Shs 22.8 billion; the National Agricultural Research Organisation: Shs 22.1 billion; and the National Animal Genetic Resources Centre 86 Data Bank: Shs 19.8 billion.
Governance and revenue collection have been allocated Shs280.29 billion. The funding is mainly for the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development—Shs141.236 billion, mainly to cater to the capitalization of the Uganda Development Bank; the Uganda Revenue Authority—Shs77.75 billion; and National Citizenship and Immigration Control—Shs28.9 billion;
The combined budgets of the Judiciary, the Legislature, the Executive, and the Missions Abroad total USD 362.93 billion. The funding is mainly for: i. Parliament—Shs132.64 billion; the Judiciary—Shs74.7 billion; the Electoral Commission—Shs72.48 billion; and Missions Abroad—Shs83.1 billion.
Others are estimated to be worth $843.6 billion. This is mainly to meet expenditures under UNRA (202.073 billion), the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development (Shs103.48 billion), the Ministry of Education and Sports (Shs57.074 billion), etc.
A total of 501.1 billion USD has been released to local governments to cater for non-wage recurrent and development expenditure. Of this, USD 113.4 billion is a Capitation Grant to cater for the opening of schools and USD 222.0 billion is a 33% final release on capital expenditure with the exception of Parish Development Model Funds.
In this third quarter, no funds have been released for the Parish Development Model (PDM) pending guidelines from the Ministry of Local Government, the creation of enterprise groups and the recruitment of Parish Chiefs, among others.
“The Ministry of Local Government should therefore fast track the implementation guidelines of PDM and local governments should in turn finalise the recruitment of a Parish Chief before PDM funds can be released,” he said.
Unlike the government, which has continuously released funds on time, Mr. Ggoobi said several ministries, agencies, and local governments have persistently delayed submitting quarterly reports.
To date, for example, 11 local governments and 81 central government votes have not submitted their first quarter performance reports, “he said.
He directed all accounting officers to ensure that they pay wages, salaries, pensions, and gratuities by the 28th of every month.
“There should be a display of the payrolls for salaries and monthly pension on government institutions’ notice boards every month; iii) Accounting Officers must prioritize payment of service providers on time and clearance of domestic arrears to avoid further accumulation of arrears.” He said.