NPA Budget Outrageous, Say MPs
THE parliamentary budget committee yesterday threw out the National Planning Authority (NPA) budget of about sh4b, saying it was outrageous.
Milton Olupot reports that the NPA, a newly-created statutory body chaired by P. G. T. Mweheza, had presented a budget of sh3.9b to the budget committee chaired by Beatrice Kiraso (Kabarole), to beat today’s budget day deadline.
Kiraso said the committee would not be able to make any comments on the budget. The team also comprised other members of the Board, Dr. Frank Nabirisi, Dr. Fatuma Namusisi and Ms. Sylvia Tereka.
Among the budget items questioned was sh300m aimed at supporting innovation and initiatives from civil society and the general public which the MPs said was another “seed money” (Entandikwa) in the making.
They also disagreed with sh31m airtime budget for the Board members, sh18m budget for their houses’ furniture, sh149m for travel to international workshops and sh106m purported to be for facilitating the minister in-charge of NPA.
Ends
Cut Government Spending
THE MINISTER of Finance will this afternoon give an account of the performance of the economy in financial year 2002/03. And also set new targets. It has not been a great year but there is hope for better performance in the new financial year. The potential exists.
The economic growth in the ending financial year is 4.9% of GDP. This is not only a drop from the 5.6% growth in 2001/02 but also below the targeted 6.6% growth. What this means is that there has been a slow down in economic growth but its not the worst. Given the prevailing harsh environment 4.9% is good enough. Poor crop in the agricultural sector, low coffee prices, the global war against terrorism spiraling oil prices, drop in foreign exchange earnings and the anti-LRA war in the north explain the fall in growth.
But all is not lost. It is common world over, economies suffer but the most important is to find a remedy. For Uganda there is need to boost the export sector. One way is to give support to the private sector to access loans for investment. Uganda will also need to fix the fiscal deficit problem. Government is spending more than its domestic revenue to meet defence and public administration obligations, which is wrong.
There is need for more financial discipline in the next year. Usually the taxpayers are urged to tighten their belts this time round government should do like wise and cut spending.
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bwanika
url: www.idr.co.ug
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