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, Shs17,736.84 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 Shs349.07 billion. The funding is mainly for National Medical Stores – Shs120.73 billion for essential drugs; Ministry of Health – Shs92.44 billion; Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Dev- Shs42.53 billion of which SAGE has Shs32.73 billion while Referral Hospitals have Shs23.79 billion.
Security and Presidency has Shs1.290 trillion. The funding is mainly for Ministry of Defence – Shs857.715 billion of which Shs514 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. And Uganda Prisons – Shs58.27 billion.
Agriculture and Industry has Shs231.905 billion. The funding is mainly for Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries -Shs37.35 billion; Min. of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives- Shs86.91 billion; National Agricultural Advisory Secretariat – Shs31.44 billion; Uganda Coffee Development Authority- Shs22.8 billion; National Agricultural Research Organisation – Shs22.1 billion; National Animal Genetic Resources Centre 86 Data Bank-Shs19.8 billion.
Governance, Revenue Collection has been allocated Shs280.29 billion. The funding is mainly for Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development- Shs141.236 billion mainly to cater capitalization of Uganda Development Bank; Uganda Revenue Authority – Shs77.75 billion; and National Citizenship and Immigration Control – Shs28.9 billion;
Judiciary, Legislature, EC, Missions abroad is Ushs 362.93 billion. The funding is mainly for: i. Parliament – Ushs 132.64 billion; Judiciary – Ushs 74.7 billion; Electoral Commission – Ushs 72.48 billion. and Missions Abroad – Ushs 83.1 billion.
Others are projected at Ushs 843.6 billion. This is mainly to meet expenditures under UNRA (Ushs 202.073 billion), Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development (Ushs 103.48 billion), Ministry of Education and Sports (Ushs 57.074 billion), etc.
A total of Ushs 501.1 billion has been released to Local Governments to cater for Non-wage recurrent and Development expenditure. Of this, Ushs 113.4bn is Capitation Grant to cater for opening of schools and Ushs 222.0bn is 33% final release on Capital Expenditure with the exception of Parish Development Model Funds.
Secretary to the Treasury Ramathan Ggoobi said in this third quarter, no funds have been released for the Parish Development Model (PDM) pending guidelines from Ministry of Local Government, creation of enterprise groups and 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 Parish Chief before PDM funds can be released,” he said.
Whereas Government has continuously released funds in time, Mr Ggoobi said several Ministries, Agencies and Local Governments have persistently delayed to submit quarterly reports.
“To date for example 11 Local Government 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 gratuity 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