Inside Opposition's Shs55 trillion alternative budget
Mr Joel Ssenyonyi, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, addresses the media on November 22, 2021 at the former party headquarters in Kamwokya. PHOTO/MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI
What you need to know:
The alternative Shs55.7 Trillion budget is built on the theme Combating Corruption: The Sure Way to Effective Service Delivery
As the finance and economic development minister prepared his sh72.3 trillion budget speech, which was delivered at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds yesterday, the office of the Leader of Opposition (LoP) also prepared a Shs55.7 trillion budget, in which the opposition presented Uganda’s key programmes and development areas and their funding plan. The alternative Shs55.7 trillion budget is built on the theme Combating Corruption: The Sure Way to Effective Service Delivery, a tagline the LoP Mr Joel Ssenyonyi justified, stating that it was necessary to fight graft since it siphons away loads of taxpayers’ money.
“This theme reflects the urgent need to tackle the systemic corruption that has plagued Uganda’s public institutions, leading to substantial losses of public resources and undermining service delivery across all sectors,” Mr Ssenyonyi said. He also indicated that it was critical to focus on graft because “corruption remains the single biggest roadblock to our nation’s progress. Year after year, Ugandans are told that resources are scarce, yet we continue to see trillions lost to mismanagement, inflated contracts, and outright theft.”
Opposition priorities…
The Ssenyonyi-led cabinet put Uganda’s major priorities into eight clusters, which “are interconnected and work in tandem to form a unified and cohesive framework that is aimed at tackling corruption and enhancing service delivery across the country.” The eight clusters include Economic Development and Planning; Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resources; Social Services and Human Development; Governance, Justice, and Constitutional Affairs; plus Security and Defence. The others are Foreign Relations and Regional Integration; Tourism, Culture, and Heritage, as well as Public Administration and Local Governance. Overall, opposition has four pronounced sectors, because according to Mr Ssenyonyi, the budget was “born out of listening to the real struggles of ordinary Ugandans.”
These are healthcare, education, agriculture, and infrastructure development as major areas that should take the lead on resource allocation to serve as major drivers necessary to propel Uganda out of biting poverty and uplift communities. Opposition says these form the biggest pain for Ugandans. “Every morning, farmers load their produce onto bicycles, praying that the bad roads do not damage their produce before they reach the market. Patients sit patiently in dilapidated health centres, hoping that medicines will finally arrive,” he said. These pains resonate with the outcomes of the Ombudsman’s Bi-Annual Performance Report to Parliament, July to December 2024, released just a fortnight ago, that assessed the extent and cost of corruption and maladministration in the recruitment by the District Service Commissions.
The Inspector General of Government (IGG) survey discovered that the education and health sectors registered the highest bribery requests from Ugandans who applied for jobs in Uganda’s local government. Specifically, the education sector had the highest value of bribe requests from job applicants at Shs36.9 billion, while the health sector had the highest value of actual bribes paid at Shs12.9 billion. Like the opposition, the Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Analysis (Cepa), Mr Timothy Chemonges, is equally disappointed that no specific redress has been availed by the tax collectors to arrest the revenue leakages. He goes on to state his disappointment in the government’s enactment of tax policies that seem to target strained business entities that are already complying, and on the reverse, look on as billions of revenue go uncollected in the process.
“Revenue generation should be anchored in productivity, not punishment, which means investing in sectors that drive real economic growth like agro-processing, digitisation, and export diversification. The tax code must be reformed to ensure simplicity and fairness, where those who earn more contribute more, and the burden is not unfairly placed on low-income earners,” he said. He added, “Above all, rebuilding trust between citizens and the state is critical, because a transparent and accountable government inspires voluntary compliance far more effectively than fear-based enforcement ever will.”
Realistic financing of the budget
The Shadow Finance Minister, Mr Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, reasoned that the opposition budget is lean, the country needs to be financed through revenue realistically garnered from a population that is well served. However, Mr Ssemujju is disappointed that the NRM government set tough revenue collection targets for the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) that have been, in the past years, for instance, unrealistic. In the budget report tabled in Parliament last month, he indicated that in the Financial Year 2020/2021 URA set out to collect Shs21.638 trillion but only managed to fetch Shs19.263 trillion, in FY 2021/2022 a target of Shs22.363 trillion was set, but only Shs21.658 trillion was collected, while in FY 2022/2023, URA aimed at getting Shs25.151 trillion, but only got Shs23.732 trillion.
This was also buttressed by Mr Ssenyonyi, who decried the major tax leakages that the government urgently needs to handle. “This country faces challenges in raising local revenue due to a narrow tax base, weak enforcement, high informality, and low taxpayer compliance. The gold sector is an example where there is limited regulation, smuggling results in little or no revenue from the most lucrative industries,” Mr Ssenyonyi said. In the 2023/2024 Auditor General Report, it was established that the government registered a Shs68.842 billion revenue loss through gold exports valued at $3.014 billion (about Shs11 trillion). The exports were made without the necessary permits from the Energy minister.
On her part, the Senior Programme Officer at Twaweza Uganda, Ms Maria Nanyanzi, stated that “with recurrent leakages and misuse of funds, it is clear that greater investment is needed in accountability mechanisms. This includes ensuring that government projects are properly appraised, monitored, and evaluated.” She added: “The lack of effective accountability has fuelled corruption, a persistent challenge in Uganda’s governance landscape. Addressing this issue is critical to ensuring that budget allocations translate into real improvements in citizens’ lives.”
Background
Opposition legislators in March presented an alternative and downsized Shs55.7 trillion budget, which they claim addresses key national reform areas and citizens’ concerns.The substitute budget reduces the government’s Shs71.9 trillion. The government unveiled its budget on March 27, an increase from the Shs57.4 trillion it had initially projected. However, the Opposition dismissed the government’s budget as both ‘‘unrealistic and unattainable.’’Mr Joel Ssenyonyi, the leader of the opposition in Parliament, presented the counter-budget in the Parliament Conference Hall in Kampala.
