MPs block Shs21.5b for Operation Shujaa

The House committee on Defence has blocked the government’s request for Shs21.5 billion to finance Uganda’s military operation in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The mission dubbed Operation Shujaa, intended to deal the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) a decisive blow, commenced in November of 2021 after the Islamist rebel group masterminded two suicide bomb attacks in Ugandan capital, Kampala, that claimed several lives.

Lawmakers are bitter that the government deployed troops in the DRC without the formal approval of the Parliament.

“While the operations in DRC and Karamoja are peculiar given the security threats posed, the committee, in its BFP (Budgetary Framework Paper) report for FY2022/2023, recommended that the minister for Defence and Veteran Affairs make a statement to Parliament on the operations of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) in DRC,” Ms Rosemary Nyakikongoro, the committee chairperson, said on Thursday evening.

“This was intended to initiate the necessary procedures required by law to be fulfilled before deployment of troops outside Uganda. To date, the minister has neither made a statement to Parliament nor adhered to this requirement. The committee, therefore, recommends non-provision of funds towards such operations that took place without prior Parliament approval,” she added.

Last year, a Shs89.7b budget for Operation Shujaa was approved on condition that the government later appears before the House to formally notify lawmakers and seek their approval. This never happened.

“So over a year now, he [Defense minister Vicent Ssempijja] has never presented on the floor of Parliament … Without his statement [on the operations], even if the money was there, they were going to relocate it to another entity,” Ms Nyakikongoro said.

The Budget Committee plans to maintain the same recommendation as the budget report that will be formally made to the House next week.

The committee has also questioned the Shs4.9b request by the Uganda Police Force to purchase 750 dogs to combat crime.

Ms Nyakikongoro had revealed that the Force’s “canine unit requires an additional Shs4.658b”, prompting Ms Gorreth Namugga (Mawogola South) to question “the impact of the dogs on ground.”

“You take a dog to your garden [and] you move some distance where someone undressed, they can’t detect,” Ms Namugga said, adding, “Do the dogs serve the purpose for which they were bought? And can you give us the cost of each dog?”

Ms Nyakikongoro reasoned that such dogs were more costly to sustain and thereby indicated that the government would spend at least Shs30m on each dog.

Information furnished with the House last week showed that the Uganda Police Force intends to boost its canine section with another 750 dogs estimated to cost the government at least Shs4.9b in the next financial year. It was, however, noted that only Shs310m is to be okayed for the same item.

The 2023/2024 National Budget Framework shows that the Uganda Police Force has only been allocated Shs823.7b against the Force’s initial request of Shs2.9 trillion.

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