MPs reject 'unclear' finance ministry policy statement

By Umaru Kashaka

KAMPALA - MPs on the finance committee on Thursday rejected a ministerial policy statement presented by the ministry of finance, planning and economic development on grounds that it lacked satisfactory information.

The committee, chaired by the Kioga County MP, Anthony Okello, noted that the statement for financial year 2013/2014 presented by the state minister, Fred Omach, had a lot of doctored figures and could not be allowed to be presented on the floor of parliament on Tuesday.

“This is unacceptable especially when it comes to the ministry of finance. We shouldn’t be seeing these mistakes regarding figures in this ministry where public funds are at stake,” the Kyamuswa County MP, Tim Lwanga noted.

He added: “If it was maybe spellings or grammatical errors, that could be understandable, but figures that appear inflated in some areas and conflicting in the others shouldn’t be excused.”

The MPs unanimously agreed to recall the statement before the House throws it out.

The minister conceded that the statement be recalled and requested to present the “cleaned” one on Monday.

The proposed budgetary allocations for the ministry for financial year 2013/2014 is sh271bn, reflecting a 21% increment against the 2012/2013 approved budget of sh225bn.