Accounting officers in trouble over delay to submit budget estimates

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Mr Ramathan Ggoobi, has threatened to cancel appointments of all accounting officers who do not submit approved budget estimates and corresponding reports by today.

In a July 1, 2022, letter addressed to all accounting officers, Mr Ggoobi revealed that only 108 of the 161 central government votes and 32 of the 176 local government votes have submitted approved budget estimates reports for Finance Year2022/23.

“…votes that fail to meet the deadline will not be permitted to transact on the IFMS, and accounting officers for those votes risk cancellation of their appointments as accounting officers,” reads in part the letter.

Mr Ggoobi further told the non-compliant accounting officers that failure to submit the budget reports would delay the finalisation and upload of the budget.

 “…the purpose of this letter, therefore, is to remind you to submit the approved budget estimates and corresponding reports (work plans, procurements, plans, cash flow plans and performance contracts not later than Monday, July 4, 2022 without fail,” he wrote.

Parliament passed the Shs48.1 trillion Budget on May 20.

Deadline breaches

Mr Ggoobi first wrote to all accounting officers on May 25, asking them to submit the approved budget estimates in line with the corrigenda and changes by Parliament and submit to the ministry in the Programme Budgeting System (PBS) before June 3.
He again wrote to them on June 21, informing them that only 33 votes of the 161 votes had submitted their budget estimates.

Though he asked them to submit their budget estimates by June 23, the majority failed to meet the deadline.

Impact

Mr Ggoobi informed them that the updated Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) had been uploaded in the PBS to accommodate the adjustments.

He directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to login into the PBS section of approval, and ensure to update or save the information at both work plan and item level irrespective of whether there are adjustments on the estimates or not.

Efforts to speak to Mr Ggoobi and ministry spokesperson Jim Mugunga on whether the number of votes who have submitted their budget estimates had increased hit a snag yesterday.