What’s in the National Budget?
What you need to know:
- Today, the National Budget feels like smoke. A lie wrapped in numbers. It increases, sometimes it reduces, But the truth remains the same: Debt More debt. A flood of debt, And it’s all tied up in the National Budget.
When I was young, I saw hope in the eyes of nearly every adult. Hope — pure, untainted hope, With a certainty that the National Budget would be their salvation. A plan, they said, to lift everyone from the jaws of poverty. They would say Bajeti ekwata ku buli muntu, A way out, they called it A promise to make villages livable, To help everyone thrive. They believed in it. They trusted in the promises woven into the fabric of National Budget Whispers of hope tucked into every line, every figure A vision of prosperity But that was then, Now, I see tired eyes. Faces heavy with resignation, People who have given up hope.
Where did that anticipation go?
Where did the belief in the budget fade?
Where is the hope we once had?
Mbabulire amazima?
Today, the National Budget feels like smoke. A lie wrapped in numbers. It increases, sometimes it reduces, But the truth remains the same: Debt More debt. A flood of debt, And it’s all tied up in the National Budget.
So, where does all this money go?
Where are we heading with this borrowing spree?
Who will be held accountable?
Have we sold our souls for loans we cannot repay?
We borrow like jesters, Hoping to fill a hunger that can never be satisfied, While the future slips through our fingers, Like sand in the wind.
We borrow to survive today, Ignoring the hunger that bites at the roots of tomorrow. But the cost—oh, the cost—is coming. It always does.
Where is the investment in the people?
In the ones who work from dawn to dusk, With hands hard skinned by the soil, Faces carved with struggle
Where is the money for our children?
The ones sitting in classrooms with broken desks, Where hope is as thin as the walls around them.
How much is allocated to agro-industrialisation?
To increase the value of our agricultural produce, Enhance Uganda’s competitiveness, Reduce post-harvest wastage, Improve the livelihoods of the people Where is the vision to build industries here, So we can process our coffee here, And keep the profits here Not ship it out to be branded by foreign hands We have Vision 2040 A vision to strengthen the fundamentals of our economy, To create jobs for our youth, To contribute to national development. But where is it? Instead, we get numbers Numbers that look good on paper, But mean nothing to the wananchi.
How much is earmarked for Human Capital Development?
For the minds that could lift us out of this pit?
Instead, we’re left with debt. Left with loans. Left with broken promises. Left with hunger that never stops eating.
What’s in the National Budget, Bana Uganda Banange?
Tell me, how much of it is for us?
How much of it is for the children in classrooms, Where chalk is worn down to dust, And dreams are nothing but ghosts How much is for the farmers in the fields, Whose hands have bled for the soil, Whose backs are bent from the weight of hard labor, But still, the land refuses to yield
How much is for healthcare?,
Which seems to be on life support Or have we become ghosts, Lost in a budget drawn by those who don’t know our names, Whose hands have never felt the weight of the harvest, Whose backs have never bent under the load of hard work Once, we saw ourselves in the National Budget But now, it’s just a list of debts, A book of priorities misaligned with our needs.
So, what’s in the National Budget, Bana Uganda Banange?
Herbert Kafeero, Author, Poet and Creative Writer
