Govt To Lose Sh59b In Court Award Arrears

May 24, 2002

THE Government has a backlog of court award arrears totalling sh59b, the parliamentary budget committee has said.

By Joyce NamutebiTHE Government has a backlog of court award arrears totalling sh59b, the parliamentary budget committee has said.The committee noted that non-payment of such arrears infringes on the rule of law in Uganda.The concerns are contained in the May 14 committee’s report on the “Macroeconomic plan and indicative budget framework for fiscal year 2002/03-2004/05.”Responding to the report on Wednesday the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Gerald Ssendaula, said his ministry had a problem with court awards because they were “going to eat” into the budget.The committee chaired by Beatrice Kiraso (Kabarole) observed that settlement of compensation under item 007 (Justice Attorney General Compensation) was being done in an adhoc and inconsistent manner.It recommended that the sh2.2b budgeted for the current court awards be utilised to settle outstanding court award arrears, giving priority to the old ones.The committee demanded that the Ministry of Justice should provide a detailed report to Parliament on compensations, showing the various beneficiaries of the sh1.9b budgeted for the Justice attorney General Compensation by May 30, 2002.Ssendaula said he had proposed to the Minister and the Attorney General that “there should be permission to engage private lawyers where government is sued.”“We have observed the method of defence. We haven’t been happy,” he said.Ends

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