Uganda Military Allocated $200m As Donors Protest
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The East African (Nairobi)
June 20, 2005
Posted to the web June 21, 2005
Okodan Akwapt
Nairobi
Uganda will in the new financial year spend a massive Ush351 billion ($200 million) on defence in spite of protests from donors.
Out of the amount, Ush135 billion ($77 million) - nearly 40 per cent of the total allocation for defence - will be spent on paying salaries and wages for soldiers.
In terms of priorities, only the Ministry of Works Housing and Communications, with an allocation of Ush355 billion ($202 million), has a bigger budget.
Speaking to The EastAfrican army spokesman Lt-Col Shaban Bantariza, defended the budget, saying that what was allocated for defence this year was not enough.
"People do not understand what the army expenditure is like; we have not received even a half of what we need. The army is not an NGO," he said.
The defence budget has been growing rapidly in recent years, with annual expenditure averaging Ush250-360 billion ($140-205 million).
The army has consistently asked for more funds to deal with the various rebel groups that have waged war against the government of President Yoweri Museveni for the past 19 years.
In the middle of the 2002/03 financial year, the government diverted 23 per cent of the budgets of all its departments to the army, which was fighting wars in the north and southwest of Uganda as well as in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Donors, who funded half the budget, protested against the reallocations to no avail. Last year, the donor community led by the World Bank threatened to cut aid to Uganda when former Finance Minister, Gerald Sendaula, proposed a 19 per cent increase in defence spending to Ush365 billion ($208.5 million).
Although donors refused to endorse the 2004/05 budget, defence got the money.
The defence budget has also been one of the main target for donor-sponsored procurement reforms.
Under the donor-sponsored Public Procurement Act, "all public procurement and disposal activities" undertaken by public institutions including parastatals and the military must be done in accordance with transparent rules.
The law also created a The Public Procurement and Disposal Authority with oversight powers over all public procurement.
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However, progress in bringing procurement by the military under the supervision and monitoring the authority has been slow.
According a recent World Bank study, the ministry of defence and the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) account for up to 25 per cent of the total procurement volume in Uganda.
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