KAMPALA – Members of Parliament have demanded the sacking of Ministry of Finance officials whom they accused of sneaking into the Budget Framework Paper UGX481b for recapitalisation for Bank of Uganda (BoU).
The MPs from both sides of the House on Thursday, 28 January 2021, said it is time that President Museveni shows the country that he is committed to fighting corruption by acting against the officials.
On Wednesday, while interfacing with the Budget Committee of Parliament, BoU Deputy Governor, Dr Michael Atingi-Ego said they had not made any request for capitalisation and wondered where the money came from.
“How on earth can someone smuggle that amount of money into the budget? I want to thank the new Deputy Governor for coming out to deny that money,” Mr Elijjah Okupa, Kasilo County MP, said during plenary on Thursday, January 28, 2021.
Budadiri West MP Nandala Mafabi said by sacking Ministry of Financial officials, then the President will show that he is going to fight corruption in the new term of office.
The Budget Committee of Parliament in its report presented before the House recommended that Finance ministry removes the Shs481b request from the Budget Framework Paper, describing it as fictitious.
Kacumbala County MP Patrick Isiagi Opolot, who presented the report of the committee, said: “The committee recommends that this allocation should not be part of our budget. But if this money was coming from our taxes and not borrowing, we would have recommended it goes to other sectors. This was supposed to be borrowed domestically.”
Minister Matia Kasaija, who interfaced with the Budget Committee on Wednesday, was not in Parliament on Thursday, to defend the allocation.
State minister for Planning David Bahati said he could explain the origin of the recapitalisation request, asking the MPs to wait for Kasaija.
On Wednesday, Dr Atingi-Ego informed the MPs on the Budget committee that the central bank had got recapitalization at the start of this Financial Year and do not need another one.
“More recently in 2020/2021, the accounts of Bank of Uganda were audited and the big picture is that Bank of Uganda made a modest profit of Shs40b and as such, Bank of Uganda is not requesting for any recapitalization because the capital is not needed. There is no basis for requesting for recapitalization” he said.
