The Advocates Coalition for Development & Environment (ACODE Uganda) has asked Butambala County Member of Parliament (MP) to ensure that the powers given to the Minister of Finance in procuring loans are curbed.
The Organization says that the fiscal abuse being exhibited during the borrowing public funds is extreme.
The appeal was made Mr Peter Watuwa, a researcher with ACODE during a consultative meeting the organization held with Hon Kivumbi at Parliament on the proposal to amend the Public Finance Management Act 2015.
“We feel there is a lot to be done on curbing the Minister’s powers to borrow. We feel that the PFMA gives the Minister a lot of power, and yet they are Parliamentary at the end of the borrowing. The Minister goes into negotiations, gets these deals or whatever it is, then, pre-empts Parliament to approve that which he has negotiated. We feel that is tending towards fiscal indiscipline,” asserted Watuwa.
In May 2023, the Ministry of Finance came under Parliamentary scrutiny when MPs unearthed a ploy government to borrow Euro500M (Shs2.027Trn) from Amarog Capital Ltd.
It was later later discovered that Amarog is a private money lender operating in Kenya’s agriculture sector.
MPs described the move by government to borrow from a private money lender as offensive and demeaning to Uganda’s integrity.
