By Eria Mugerwa
Finance Minister Matia Kasaija has said that under the FY2018/19, adherence to the NRM 2016-2021 election manifesto will be one of the two major benchmarks on which the performance of Permanent Secretaries and other accounting officers will be measured. The other parameter to measure performance will be compliance to the National Development Plan (NDP) which Kasaija rightly says articulates the country’s development agenda priorities for the next 5 years. “But adherence to the NRM manifesto will be more important than any other parameter because it’s the contract between the people and the NRM government of President Museveni who employs all these accounting officers managing the votes under the budget,” Kasaija said.
This was a few days ago at the finance ministry conference hall where he met media and CSO representatives and unveiled the full program for the 10 days preceding the reading of the budget slated for next week. In the same meeting, Kasaija faced off with Julius Mukunda who leads a consortium of civil society organizations devoted to doing budget advocacy. Mukunda complained about the rampant tendencies of supplementary budgets which Kasaija and his deputy David Bahati frequently take before Parliament seeking approval. Mukunda said this is indicative of financial indiscipline and poor budgeting.
Kasaija agreed and wondered why any accounting officer would require supplementary funding for things like salaries in the middle of the financial year. Mukunda also wondered why action wasn’t being taken against leaders of Ishaka-Bushenyi Municipality local government leadership against whom the CSOs reported to the finance ministry showing impropriety regarding the management of money meant for road maintenance. Kasaija said investigations were ongoing and “we shall let you know the moment our investigations confirm that what you reported to us as CSOs about those people was true.” Kasaija urged Ugandans to become vigilant and develop keen interest in the budgeting process to ensure accounting officers like CAOs and Sub County Chiefs don’t misappropriate the funds that the finance ministry releases to them quarterly.
Kasaija, who sometimes critics have faulted for mimicking the president’s speech style and mannerism while making public statements, said his ministry had this year organized a range of activities aimed at demystifying fears and myths the public tends to associate with budgeting process. He said participatory budgeting is now the way to go and “since it’s this same people who elect my boss President Museveni to office, its high time they got actively involved because this budget is theirs and not mine as Matia Kasaija. We are their servants and not the other way round.” Some of the scribes who have lately decamped from mainstream media to start their own news websites seized the opportunity and made their demands known to Kasaija who nevertheless remained obstinate towards their cajoling. “You are here reading to us very big figures but many of the things you are saying actually don’t make news to us. We must have a partnership with your ministry to disseminate these things like the government of Rwanda does. It prioritizes publicity unlike you here in Uganda.
Each time there is emergency, it’s the media budget you cut immediately yet you want to benefit from our platforms to communicate to the public. My question is why do you always underfund the communications component as finance ministry and influence other MDAs to do the same?” fired one of the senior journalists present. Kasaija was unrelenting and assured the gentleman this had happened before and it will happen again “because the only areas I’m not permitted to touch when it comes to cutting budgets is energy, roads and security but for the rest, we shall always improvise.” Kasaija also told off Vision Group’s Moses Mulondo who accused him of perennially underfunding agriculture. “My dear journalists I have always demanded that you do some research and become knowledgeable and ask serious questions. When I put so much money in roads via UNRA, Am I not funding agriculture? Do you know how much farmers suffer in upcountry districts when it rains and their farms become inaccessible by the tractor and other trucks?” Kasaija gave the example of his own district whose farmers he said suffer and cry to him a lot whenever it rains and their farm lands become inaccessible and their produce perishes before reaching the market.
On other occasions, he explained, farmers’ produce is bought at very low prices simply because the middlemen must factor in transport constraints between the market location and where the produce is produced. Kasaija’s insistence on having accounting officers’ performance determined basing on how well they comply with the NRM manifesto and its contents seemed to discomfort some in the audience but the Buyanja County MP insisted this was the correct way because it’s the NRM government from whom voters will require accountability at the end of the 5 years and the PSs it hires to deliver that manifesto must adjust and realign their work plans in a way that enables the manifesto document’s contents to be realized. For comments, call/text/whatsapp us on 0703164755.
