By Musaazi Hamza
He (Lugoolobi) said that some figures were totally different from those that were approved by the committee and passed by the Parliament.
Lugoolobi spotlighted various discrepancies in the budget speech- for instance;
Parliament had appropriated Ugx400 billion for payment of arrears owned by the government to private sector firms, but the Minister mentioned Ugx673 billion in his address.
Ugx38.5 billion earmarked towards export promotion strategy, the minister instead read Ugx138 billion (thrice the initial figure)
Ugx225 billion for talent support yet the approved budget had Ugx100 billion.
Hon Lugoolobi said that the minister made an error by mentioning Ugx94 billion as credit allocated to small and medium scale enterprises through Saccos’ because Parliament appropriated Ugx40 billion towards the same.
On the roll out of the Social Assistance Grant for the Elderly (SAGE) - Parliament approved Ugx66 billion but Ugx107 billion was read.
While concluding his speech (Hon Amos Lugoolobi) - said;
“We have a law governing the budget process, if there are changes by the government they must be communicated for approval to Parliament before they are pronounced to the public”
On that very note the speaker directed the Minister to explain the issues in his budget speech-
Kadaga said;
“The Minister is required to come here to explain the variances between the Appropriation Bill passed here and the speech he made on the budget day”
She continued;
“We also want to know if the president assented to this Appropriation Bill, where did these figures come from”
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