Govt releases sh1.2 trillion for last quarter

By John Semakula

The Government has released money to ministries, departments and local governments for the last quarter of this financial year.

The release is in line with the 2012/13 budgetary allocations endorsed by Parliament last year.

The commissioner in charge of budget and evaluation in the Ministry of Finance, Kenneth Mugambe, disclosed that the total release for the quarter was sh1.2 trillion.

Mugambe said the Government wanted the beneficiaries to ultilise every penny to ensure that no penny is returned to the Consolidated Fund.

He noted that local governments last year returned sh38b to the Consolidated Fund, denying services to the population that was supposed to benefit from the funds.

According to the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), the sh38b could have funded the construction of 15km of first class tarmac road.

Mugambe said of the sh1.2 trillion disbursed, sh583.9b was intended for salaries and wages of civil servants; sh544.6b is for operations and sh65.4b was allocated to development programmes.

“The ministry has sent the schedules of release to the MPs to ensure they follow up the funds as they trickle down to the beneficiaries,” he said.

Some of the beneficiaries confirmed receiving the funds and putting them to use.

UNRA spokesperson Dan Alinange said they had received their share of operation funds.

He added that UNRA had already received its other share of the 2012/2013 budget under a special arrangement dubbed ‘front loading’.

Mukono chief administrative officer, Luke Lokuda also confirmed that his district received its share and that they had embarked on paying the contractors.