Parliament has rejected a supplementary budget request of Shs 117 billion tabled by government for the construction of roads in the oil-rich Bunyoro region.
Finance minister, Matia Kasaija tabled the supplementary budget request yesterday – seeking approval to withdraw the funds from the Petroleum Fund and allocate it to Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra) for the construction of roads in Bunyoro.
Kasaija, in his justification, explained that the funds will go a long way in fast-tracking roads construction by 2019 in anticipation of oil production expected to start in 2020.
However, the request drew protests from a number of legislators including speaker Rebecca Kadaga who stated that this requires parliamentary scrutiny and must be handled by the Budget committee.
“You want to withdraw money from the Petroleum Fund but at the same time you want a supplementary of equivalent amount to Unra. I think that one has to go to our [Budget] committee and they can examine it and report back,” Kadaga said.
Bugweri county MP Abdu Katuntu and Roland Mugume, the Rukungiri municipality MP demanded that government requests for the supplementary budget using the Appropriations Act and not for only the roads sector.
“You need to address your mind [on] how you come here [in parliament] to seek that permission. It will not be a casual motion [that] you bring and we allow you. You just need to address yourself, or the attorney general should address you on the provisions of the law,” said Katuntu.
While Mugume said: “There is a procedure when you want to withdraw funds from petroleum for petroleum. Section 58 of the Public Finance Act requires that withdrawals from Petroleum Fund shall be made under authority granted by an Appropriations Act to the consolidated fund. Withdrawals from consulted fund should only be done to fund annual budget not to fund a single sector budget.”
But an adamant Kasaija insisted that the request was straight-forward.
“It may not absolutely be right to go to the [Budget] committee, the issue is straight but of course subject to the rules of Parliament Act and subject to whether we’re sitting rightly. I would need your guidance on this matter. But we thought that this was a straight forward matter.” Kasaija said.
The speaker has directed the minister to go back and correct the legal loopholes before re-tabling the request.