MPs order government to remove illegal BoU bailout fund

The 2021/2022 financial year budget must be revised downwards by removing the Shs481b that had been sneaked into the Budget Framework Paper as recapitalisation for Bank of Uganda (BOU), Parliament has directed.

On Wednesday, the Budget Committee of Parliament discovered that officials in the Ministry of Finance had smuggled Shs481b in the budget after the BOU Deputy Governor, Dr Michael Atingi-Ego, revealed that the central bank had not made any request for capitalisation.

While presenting its report to the House during yesterday’s plenary session, the Budget Committee recommended that the Shs45.658 trillion proposed resource envelopes for the next financial year ensure the Shs481b is not catered for.

While presenting the report, Kacumbala County MP Patrick Isiagi Opolot said there is no reason to include the said money in the budget after both BoU and the Ministry of Finance failed to defend it.

“The committee recommends that this allocation should not be part of our budget.  But if this money was coming from our taxes and not borrowing, we would have recommended it goes to other sectors. This was supposed to be borrowed domestically,” Mr Opolot stated.

This means, the total resource envelope, which was supposed to be Shs166b higher than that of 2020/2021 (Shs45.5 trillion), will be cut down to Shs45.177 trillion.

MPs demand action
Some MPs demanded that an investigation be carried out to find out how the money was put in the budget framework paper in the guise to recapitalise BoU.

“How on earth can someone smuggle that amount of money into the budget? I want to thank the new Deputy Governor for coming out to deny that money,” Mr Elijjah Okupa (Kasilo County) said.

Budadiri West MP Nandala Mafabi suggested that the President causes the arrest of Ministry of Finance officials who allegedly smuggled the BoU recapitalisation fund into the budget.

Mr Joseph Ssewungu (Kalungu West) further questioned President Museveni’s decision to extend the contract of BOU Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile, whom he said can no longer supervise everything that goes on in the central bank.

“What is really Mr Mutebile still doing in BoU. He can’t walk there. He is carried there. This man is almost doing nothing and that’s why money is being stolen. Is he just there as a scarecrow? That is why the deputy Governor whom we vetted here came in and said ‘we don’t need recapitalization’,” Mr Ssewungu charged.

The State minister for Planning, Mr David Bahati, declined to explain to Parliament the origin of the rejected recapitalisation request, arguing that it was his senior, Minister Matia Kasaija, who interfaced with the Budget Committee.

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