Several government ministries have failed to lay before Parliament their ministerial policy statements and budget estimates for the next financial year 2022/2023.
They include the Ministry of East Africa Community Affairs headed by Rebecca Kadaga, the Ministry of Trade, Industries and Co-operative under the leadership of Amelia Kyambadde, and the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities under Tom Butime as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs led by Gen. Jeje Odongo among others.
The ministers were required to submit the statements before the March 15th deadline as required by the Public Financial Management Act, so that they are scrutinized by sectoral committees of Parliament as part of the budgeting process.
Ministerial policy statements set out the performance and plans of spending agencies linking them with their policy objectives. The statements are used by Parliament to assess sector (Spending Agency) performance under Section 6 (1) of the Budget Act (2001).
Kira Municipality MP Ssemujju Nganda expressed concern why the ministries had failed to fulfil their constitutional obligations. He pointed out Kadaga who has never appeared before Parliament and tasked Prime Minister Robina Nabbanja to explain to the House.
But Kabula County MP Enos Asiimwe observed that Ssemujju’s concern was misplaced because the order paper dictated tabling of the policy statements and not to debate.
The Prime Minister Nabbanja informed the lawmakers that all ministers are aware of the deadline under the law to submit policy statements and blamed the delay on the technical staff of the different ministries.
To the amusement of the House, Nabbanja ridiculed Ssemujju’s concern and ironically invited him for a cup of coffee to discuss Kadaga’s persistent absence from the House.
Section 13 of the Public Finance Management Act 2015 as amended, requires ministries to present before Parliament the ministerial policy statements by March 15, 2022. Meanwhile, the Opposition will present their alternative policy statements on March 29th, 2022. The Deputy Speaker Anita Among weighed in critiquing the technical team of the different ministries for the laxity and faulted them for incompetence before adjourning the House ‘Sine Die.
The statements summarise the past performance of the sector and the plans for future expenditure and activities. They outline anticipated sectoral challenges and strategies to overcome them, and also present planned outputs and the costing; final work plans; cash plans; and staffing structure and procurement plans of the sector.