Treasury releases Shs5.3 trillion 

Government on Tuesday released a total of Shs5.3 trillion (about 23.4 percent) of the approved budget to finance planned activities in the ministries, departments and agencies. The third quarter release of the Financial Year 2021/2022, will cater for both recurrent and development expenditures.

To date, Shs17.7 trillion of the Budget has been released cumulatively and it translates to 77.7 percent of the approved budget of the financial year 2021/2022. The cash releases come at a time when the country is facing revenue shortfalls due to the Covid-19 pandemic impact on economic activities.  
The availability of the recurrent and development expenditures contributes to citizens’ welfare and overall economic development of the country.

Releasing the third quarter budget at the Ministry of Finance, the Permanent Secretary/Secretary to the Treasury, Mr Ramathan Ggoobi, said the Ministry is committed to the timely release of funds and all stakeholders are requested to take note of information in the print media. 
Another Shs501.1 billion has been released to Local Governments to cater for non-wage recurrent and development expenditure. Of this, Shs113.4 billion is meant for the capitation grant to cater for reopening of schools, which had been closed for almost two years due to Covid-19 pandemic.

In this same category, the Treasury announced that Shs222 billion (33 percent) is the final release on capital Expenditure with the exception of Parish Development Model.   
Mr Ggoobi said no funds have been released for the Parish Development Model (PDM) pending guidelines from the Ministry of Local Government on 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 chiefs before PDM funds can be released,” he said. 
Mr Ggoobi further stated that whereas the government has continuously released funds in time, several ministries, agencies and Local Governments have persistently delayed to submit quarterly reports. 
“To date, 11 local governments and 81 central government votes have not submitted their quarter performance reports,” he said.   
         
In the wage category, Mr Ggoobi said Shs1.4 trillion (26.1 percent) has been released. This includes the funding requirement to cater for enhanced lunch allowances for medical works and the balance of 50 percent for missions salaries.
This means medical workers will not be complaining of lack of allowances that they are entitled to get, which in its absence had seen medical workers striking thus affecting service delivery in government-aided medical facilities. 

Non-Wage Recurrent category 
Under the Non-Wage recurrent category, Mr Ggoobi said: “The quarter three expenditure limits under these categories were prioritised taking into consideration, among others, the cabinet decision to prioritise health and social protection, security and Presidency, Agriculture and Industry, Governance, URA, Judiciary, Legislation, Electoral Commission and missions abroad.”  
The health institutions and social protection received Shs349.07 billion of which the National Medical Stores received Shs120.73 billion for essential drugs, Ministry of Health Shs92.44 billion, Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development Shs42.53 billion of which SAGE receives Shs32.73 billion and the referral hospitals Shs23.79 billion.  

However, Mr Ggoobi said the government has overshot the approved budget by nine percent due to clearing domestic arrears with the view of supporting economic recovery. In quarter one, government released Shs431 billion for domestic arrears, in quarter two Shs131 billion was released for domestic arrears while in quarter three, another Shs40 billion has been released.   
This implies that the government overshot the budget by Shs51 billion due to clearing of domestics arrears and compensation of Ugandan companies that lost money in South Sudan incidence.  
Responding to the Treasury’s decision not release any funds for Parish Development Model, the executive director of Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group, Mr Julius Mukunda, said: “The decision by the treasury not to release any funds to the Parish development Model is wise because without clear accountability, the Parish Development Model will end up being misused.”  

INSTITUTIONS                         AMOUNT

Security and Presidency    Shs1.290 trillion   
Ministry of defence    Shs857.7 billion
State House    Shs95.76 billion
Uganda Police    Shs146.12 billion
Ministry of Internal Affairs    Shs16.86 billion
Internal Security organization    Shs28.8 billion
External Security organization    Shs6.75 billion
Directorate of government analytical laboratories    Shs649 billion
Office of the Prime Minister    Shs27.67 billion
Uganda Prisons    Shs58.27 billion
Agriculture and Industry    Shs231.9 billion
Ministry of agriculture. Animal Industry and Fisheries      Shs37.35 billion
Ministry of Trade Industry and Cooperatives    Shs86.91 billion
National Advisory Secretariat    Shs31.44 billion
Uganda Coffee Development Authority    Shs22.8 billion
National Agricutral Research Centre Organisation    Shs22.1 billion
National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Data Bank    Shs19.8 billion
Governance, Revenue Collection      Shs280.29 billion
Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development for UDB    Shs141.236 billion
Uganda Revenue Authority    Shs77.75 billion
National Citizenship and Immigration Control      Shs28.9 billion
Judiciary, Legislature, EC Missions abroad     Shs362.93 billion 
Parliament     Shs132.64 billion
Judiciary      Shs74.7 billion
Electoral Commission      Shs 72.48 billion 
Missions abroad     Shs83.1 billion
Others are projected at     Shs843.6 billion
UNRA     Shs202.073 billion
Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development     Shs103.48 billion
Ministry of Education and Sports     Shs57.074 billion