DP advises Gov't on next week's budget
Jun 04, 2013
The Democratic Party (DP) has advised the government to allocate enough funds in the next national budget to health and agriculture sectors.
BY MOSES MULONDO
The Democratic Party (DP) has advised the government to allocate enough funds in the next national budget to sectors which will improve the social-economic welfare of majority Ugandans.
Finance minister, Maria Kiwanuka, will present the budget for 2013/2014 financial year to Parliament on Thursday next week. President Yoweri Museveni is to give the Sate of Nation address to Parliament on Thursday this week.
Addressing journalists at the party headquarters in Kampala, DP legal advisor, Fred Mukasa Mbidde and the newly appointed party spokesperson Dr. Michael Lulume Bayiga proposed to the government to ensure that more priority is given to the agriculture sector and the health sectors.
Dr. Lulume (MP for Buyikwe South), who is also the shadow minister for health, lamented over what he called the government’s negligence to the health sector reflected in allocation inadequate funds to the sector.
“Whereas the Abuja declaration to which Uganda is a signatory required African governments to allocate not less than 15% of their national budgets to the health sector, Uganda government gives it only 6%. This explains why our hospitals are dilapidated without the necessary medical equipment to save the lives of Ugandans,” Dr. Lulume explained.
He reported that in the various visits by MPs, various hospitals in the country were in an appalling state without even basic amenities like water, electricity and drugs.
“As Ugandans, we were greatly embarrassed in a recent global health summit in Malaysia when it turned out that we are among a few countries lagging behind in achieving millennium development goals on health. It was shock to the rest of the world to discover in Uganda over 438 women die in the course of giving birth,” Dr. Lulume elaborated.
He warned that if the government fails to give the health sector adequate funding in the forthcoming budget, they would mobilize fellow MPs to block approving the budget as they did last year until more money.
Fred Mukasa Mbidde, who is also Uganda’s representative in the East African Legislative Assembly, said DP wants the biggest portion of the national budget to go to agriculture.
“If we are to boost the economy, widen the tax base and increase the volume of goods and services in the country, we have to allocate enough money in the agriculture sector which employs over 80% of Ugandans,” Mbidde explained.
The two DP leaders explained that although the budget framework paper indicates less is likely to be given to the two sectors; money can be got from the defence ministry, State House and public administration.
Although in the Maputo declaration African governments committed to allocate not less than 15% of their national budgets to agriculture in order to boost their economies, Uganda which has more comparative advantage in agriculture than most African countries, allocates only 3.4% of its national budget to agriculture.
Mdidde said he has also completed drafting a proposal for blocking Southern Sudan from joining the East African Community if their government does not undertake measures to stop the persecution of Ugandans living in their country.
Dr. Lulume said the withdrawal of over sh740b of budget support to Uganda by donors is likely to greatly undermine efforts of improving the social-economic welfare of Ugandans if government does not undertake a paradigm shift in the budgeting process to put money in sectors which impact on majority Ugandans.