State House’s demand for 66% hike in budget raises questions

The Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development is in the final stages of completing the budget paper for the Financial Year 2020/2021. However, questions are already mounting over the demand by State House to increase its budget by 66 per cent.
The demand for a significantly increased budget comes at a time when the budgets for many critical sectors are being slashed and during an election year, raising concerns that much of the money sought could be used to bolster the re-election chances of the incumbent president.

Much as the Ministry of Finance has in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) reserved an indicative figure of Shs263.2b for State House to plan its budget for the FY 2020/2021, the people charged with budgeting for the President’s expenditure have put their budget at Shs677b.

This would be an increment of Shs270b on the Shs407b that was availed to State House in Financial Year 2019/2020. It would be markedly different from the figures laid out in the MTEF, a rolling three year-expenditure plan in which the Ministry of Finance sets out the medium-term expenditure priorities for all the sectors.

It is not clear whether the Finance ministry, which had in the MTEF provided for Shs263.2b for State House budget, will yield and confirm the whooping increment by finding more Shs414b to hit the required figure of Shs677b.

Mr Kenneth Mugambe, the director of budget in the Ministry of Finance, told Sunday Monitor yesterday that the ministry may not be in position to find the additional funding being sought by State House because there are constraints with the resource envelope.

“We issue the MTEF ceiling based on the resources available (but) not necessarily on the wish list of the ministries. It means our affordable position is what is in the Budget Framework Paper (BFP). It means actually they [State House] have to scale down their activities to fit within the ceiling,’’ Mr Mugambe said.

He, however, said the ministry is currently processing the final budget ceiling based on the input of Parliament and the document indicating the final adjustments will be out by Tuesday.

Much as State House has not indicated the budget the President, who enjoys the privilege of using State resources, will spend during the campaigns as he seeks to get a sixth elective term of office, critics says Mr Museveni, in power since 1986, is already ahead of his opponents by openly campaigning ahead of the 2021 General Election.

Key Opposition presidential hopefuls Dr Kizza Besigye (four time runner-up) and Kyadondo East Member of Parliament Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, have not been given freedom to mobilise for support with just about five months to nominations.

According to the Electoral Commission roadmap for the 2021 General Election, nominations for presidential candidates will be around August 20, while the rigorous campaign period starts around September, with the polls planned for January next year.

With endorsement as a sole candidate for the National Resistance Movement (NRM) by the top party organs and the NRM Parliamentary Caucus, Mr Museveni is already ahead of whichever contenders he will face off with.

While addressing the National Executive Council (NEC) of NRM at State House, Entebbe on January 26, the President said his own “road to 2021 is now clear” hence asking the other leaders, especially MPs, to up their game to mobilise for themselves and the party. He, however, warned them not to dish out money to the voters but guide them on how to improve their household incomes.

Cuts in other sectors

Much as Parliament may not have considered the Shs677b request of State House in the Budget Framework Paper, other critical sectors and agencies of government are likely to give way for the Ministry of Finance to try and find that money as has already been seen with cuts in their indicative figures.

The critical sectors that have faced the budget cuts in the proposed Shs39.6 trillion National Budget include Works and Transport; Energy; Agriculture; Health; and Education.

Also crying foul in the budget cuts are some of the critical agencies. Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) are grappling with unfunded priorities worth Shs473b after they were asked to plan within the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) indicative figure of Shs285b.

KCCA budget for the FY ending June 30, is Shs382.52b, which means there is a proposed cut by about Shs100b. This means their budget is facing a continuous downsizing, with Shs92b cut in 2019/2020 from the Shs477.62b budget of 2018/19.

For State House, the total expenditure in the FY 2015/2016, another election year, was at least Shs302.7b, which included a supplementary of Shs49.7b that was tabled and approved around April 2016, with Ms Nakyobe referring to high expenditure on the President’s campaign trail.

Currently, State House is working on an approved budget of Shs407b, which is Shs133b higher than the Shs274b budget for 2018/2019.

In May last year, Parliament approved Shs1.9 trillion supplementary budget, of which State House got Shs33.28b to top up on the Shs274b releases of the FY 2018/2019.

Part of this money (Shs17b) financed the President’s countrywide tour in which he was mobilising the country for development using a parish model, whereas Shs15b was classified expenditure.

Throughout the countrywide tours, Mr Museveni outlined his manifesto achievements and also gave a snap shot in his plans beyond 2021 and the response he got everywhere was endorsement as a sole candidate for the ruling party.

As per the 2019/20 Budget Performance Report for Vote 002, which is State House, the Parliament’s Budget Committee indicated that there remained outstanding Presidential pledges worth Shs386b, whereas other pledges with unspecified figures had been directed to different ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

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