Cash crisis cripples ministries, agencies

Ministries and agencies have warned of continued disruptions in the delivery of essential services following the Finance ministry’s decision to cut their budgets and delay the release of funds over rising inflation.

Mr Musa Ecweru, the State Minister for Works, and Mr Frank Tumwebaze, the Agriculture minister, told the Monitor yesterday that they have not received money for the implementation of crucial activities.

Mr Ecweru said the Finance ministry’s monetary policy should be revised to ensure enough funds are released immediately to save Ugandans from impassable roads as the second rainy season causes havoc.

“I am in Kapelebyong. The ministry (Uganda National Roads Authority] had framework contracts with different companies to maintain our national roads. Those companies have not been paid across the country for some time now. They have laid down their tools,” he said.

Mr Ecweru added: “So, soon most of the national roads will not be passable. The decision by the Ministry of Finance to think that you control inflation by disabling Ministries like Works to do their work of maintenance, in my view, was wrong. I am not an expert in monetary policy but I think this will cripple production.”

The government is planning to start implementing the Parish Development Model, an initiative which requires inputs to be delivered from different sources to the parishes.

“But there are many parishes that are not accessible since the rains started,” Mr Ecweru said.

Mr Tumwebaze said the situation is not any different at the Agriculture  ministry.

“We didn’t get money to implement any activity. I think we only received some Shs1b [for operations not related to implementation],” he said.

The Finance ministry officials in July announced the cutting of planned government spending for the FY 2022/2023 by 6 percent to tame rampant inflation and high-interest rates.

In the approved budget, the government public expenditure is supposed to be 25 percent representing Shs12 trillion in every quarter of the 2022/2023 national budget, which is Shs48.1 trillion.

The Secretary to Treasury, Mr Ramathan Ggoobi, couldn’t be reached by press time on the issues raised by the ministers.

However, while releasing the funds for the first quarter of the 2022/2023 financial year national budget last month, Mr Ggoobi said the expenditure limits for quarter one of FY2022/2023 were derived based on the work plans and procurement plans of ministries, departments and agencies and the available resources for quarter one of FY 2022/2023.

“The quarter one release has been constrained by the state of the economy, especially the effort of the government to coordinate its fiscal policy with monetary policy to arrest the inflation. We to ensure that the demand matches with supply in the economy,” he said.

Mr Ggoobi added: “We have not made a release for capital expenditure as it will be prioritised in quarter two with exception wage for contract staff salaries, Ministry of Defence, State House and Ministry of Works (Shs26b).”

The State Minister for Health in charge of General Duties, Ms Anifa Kawooya, yesterday said Ugandans should prepare for a slowdown in implementation and service delivery.

“The budget for health and social services are always very small, so the budget cut really affected us. Our resource bag is also limited. But we will live within the budget that has been allocated to us and we will ensure that we maintain our commitment to provide good quality services,” Ms Kawooya said.

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