New budget faces implementation challenges

When Finance Minister, Maria Kiwanuka allocated most of her nine trillion shillings budget to roads, power generation, education and health sector, some saw this as a good move to improve service delievery, but not for Rose Akol, the outgoing Parliamentary Budget Committee Chairperson.

Akol says that she doubts whether the money will actually be spent. Akol says several government agencies have in the past not made good use of Budget funds.

// Cue In “I can give you an example of roads…..
Cue Out…. one of them I’m talking about”//

Akol argues that most of the projects allocated funds in the ending financial year may return the money to the treasury due to low absorption rates in ministries. Top on the list of under-spenders is the  ministry of works and transport which has been receiving the biggest share of the budget in the last budgets.

Akol failure to spend large amounts of allocated in the budget exposes the tax-payers to additional financing burden after they have made available enough funds to execute all government plans.

More than 220 billion allocated to the roads Uganda Roads Authority in the 2008/2009 was returned to the consolidated fund, while many roads remained in bad shape.

Nathan Nandala Mafabi, the Leader of Oppositions says sizable amounts of money have always been returned to the consolidated fund.

The Works ministry has in the past explained that the inability to spend allocated funds is mainly the result of cumbersome procurement procedures.

John Nasasira, the former Works Minister recently said that procurement procedures involved have often resulted in a miss-match between the time of funds approval and actual implementation of programmes.

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