The Shadow Minister for Finance in Parliament Hon Ibrahim Ssemuju Nganda has decried government move to cut budgets for key priority areas like Health, Education and Agriculture.
Ssemuju made these remarks while presenting a minority report on the Budget framework paper before Parliament on Thursday.
“We are uncomfortable with resource allocation. The budget for health, agriculture, & education is being reduced. At the very minimum, it must be maintained by making deductions in areas where a lot of wastage takes place such as State House & President’s Office” Ssemuju said in his report.
Ssemuju also criticized the government for not explaining well the public debt which he said confuses Ugandans. He said that it is important for Parliament to know the status of public debt and the country’s ability to repay it.
“The Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development puts public debt at Shs86.7trillion while the Auditor General says Shs97.499 trillion and Bank of Uganda puts it at Shs88.8 trillion” Ssemuju said. There has been contention about Uganda’s public debt as officials quote different figures.
