Defence budget to increase by sh400b

The budget for defence will in the next budget increase by over sh400b (27%) from sh1.5trillion to sh1.9trillion.

According to the budget framework paper which contains proposed budget estimates for the 2017/2018, the total budget will rise from sh26trillion to sh29.3trillon.

But close to sh9trillion containing the biggest portion of the increment will be spent on debt repayment.

That is why whereas the health sector has so many unfunded priorities, the executive has proposed to reduce its budget from 1.8trillion (8.9%) it was allocated in the current financial year to 1.2trillion (5.7%) which is far below the minimum of 15% African governments committed to in the 2001 Abuja protocol.  

Debt repayment is increasingly taking the biggest portion of Uganda’s national budget.

For the current financial year, a total of sh7.7trillion which is 30% of the budget was allocated to debt repayment and in the previous year of 2015/2016 it had been sh6.5trillion.

The defence sector plans for the next financial year include continued support foreign peace keeping missions, institutionalization of the reserve forces, clearance of backlog of retirement arrears, enhancing the welfare of soldiers especially accommodation and medicals services, building and upgrading of infrastructure, improve procurement and supply of logistics,  enhancing ICT systems, training, and reskilling.

The defence ministry plans to procure classified equipment for capability consolidation. According to the document, the equipment will be mainly in the area of communication, medical, and transport.

The sector is in discussion with different stakeholders to embark on construction of 30,000 housing units for accommodation for the troops.

The defence ministry plans to use sh72.3b to purchase and survey land for increased training and production activities of Uganda Peoples Defence Forces.