Private sector warns against diverting budget money
Jun 15, 2009
THE Government should avoid diverting money for priority programmes in the budget in order to effectively implement them, the Private Sector Foundation boss has warned.
By David Muwanga
THE Government should avoid diverting money for priority programmes in the budget in order to effectively implement them, the Private Sector Foundation boss has warned.
“It will be financial indiscipline if the money is diverted to areas that are not in the budget. This makes the Government inefficient in implementation of the programmes,†the foundation’s executive director, Gabriel Hatega, said.
“We have also heard of a supplementary budget. This means those ministries overshoot their expenditures or divert the money to areas that were not budgeted for. The Government should ensure this is minimised this year,†he said at a post-budget luncheon at the Sheraton Kampala Hotel over the weekend.
He hailed the Government for addressing issues raised by the private sector in the last four financial years.
“In 2006/07, the Government addressed 33% of our problems, 54.5% in 2007/08, 72.7% in 2008/09 and this year’s budget has addressed 78.6% of the issues we raised,†Hatega said.
Those that were not addressed Rift Valley Railways, high transport charges, harmonisation of taxes in the region and elimination of non-tariff barriers.
Others include the high excise duty on airtime and day-old chicks and lack of a construction policy. The PSFU chairman of the advisory council, James Mulwana, said: “Although the budget has offered many incentives to investors, it did not address the problem of counterfeit products that are choking local manufacturers.â€
“Unless the Government stops importation of counterfeit products, there is no way Uganda manufacturers can become competitive in the East African Community customs union,†he said.
THE Government should avoid diverting money for priority programmes in the budget in order to effectively implement them, the Private Sector Foundation boss has warned.
“It will be financial indiscipline if the money is diverted to areas that are not in the budget. This makes the Government inefficient in implementation of the programmes,†the foundation’s executive director, Gabriel Hatega, said.
“We have also heard of a supplementary budget. This means those ministries overshoot their expenditures or divert the money to areas that were not budgeted for. The Government should ensure this is minimised this year,†he said at a post-budget luncheon at the Sheraton Kampala Hotel over the weekend.
He hailed the Government for addressing issues raised by the private sector in the last four financial years.
“In 2006/07, the Government addressed 33% of our problems, 54.5% in 2007/08, 72.7% in 2008/09 and this year’s budget has addressed 78.6% of the issues we raised,†Hatega said.
Those that were not addressed Rift Valley Railways, high transport charges, harmonisation of taxes in the region and elimination of non-tariff barriers.
Others include the high excise duty on airtime and day-old chicks and lack of a construction policy. The PSFU chairman of the advisory council, James Mulwana, said: “Although the budget has offered many incentives to investors, it did not address the problem of counterfeit products that are choking local manufacturers.â€
“Unless the Government stops importation of counterfeit products, there is no way Uganda manufacturers can become competitive in the East African Community customs union,†he said.