Uganda’s 2015/16 Budget Detached from the Plight of the Country

By Valerian Kkonde

PEARL NEWS SERVICE

Demanding for good governance. Part of the crowds that welcomed back Dr. Besigye from Nairobi hospital after he was attacked by Police with pepper spray in the eyes. Justice is key to any development.PNS Photo

Governments, the world over, get money by taxing those they lead. It is through taxation that the public makes its first contribution to making the country a better place; it is a source of pride.

Unfortunately, Uganda is one of the countries whose leaders are preoccupied with expanding the tax base without ensuring the economic prosperity for its people. Worse still, foreigners are pampered while nationals are oppressed.

The 2015/16 budget ably brings out this absurd scenario. Even president Museveni’s argument that the allocations of the 24 trillion -budget need to be “analysed with a holistic view rather than a fragmented one” does not help the situation.

With unemployment laying to waste majority youths and the agricultural sector remaining the only one capable of absorbing the redundant youth, yet undermined by government, the three trillion allocated to the roads sector cannot in any way be an excuse for allocating only shillings 479 billion to a crucial sector like agriculture.

Uganda yearns for an all weather road network. But this network, on its own, is not going to increase production in the gardens nor increase the acreage under use. Talking about agriculture, the three trillion for the roads is equivalent to the creation of the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS). The billions dumped in NAADS were only benefiting Museveni’s cronies; there was no improvement in agricultural production.

Instead of allocating 10% of the budget to the agricultural sector as per the Maputo declaration, it is being turned into a guinea pig for political expedience. But that will not water down its pole position in enhancing the economic base of Ugandans.

The agriculture sector employs about 66 per cent of Uganda’s labour force, and the vast majority especially, the poor men and women in the rural areas who directly or indirectly depend on it.

Agriculture also has great potential to transform Uganda’s economy.

But as moral decadence continues to eat up the Ugandan society to the marrow, especially those in positions of power, 30% of the 479 billion will be grabbed by the powers that be.

The 2014 Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index Uganda ranks the country as 142^nd corrupt with a score of 26. With president Museveni publicly declaring that he will protect his people accused of corruption, one can guess how much of the 24 trillion will end up in tangible development and subsequent poverty alleviation.

The Permanent Secretary (PS), Ministry for Gender, Pius Bigirimana is a clear example of those the president is protecting after robbing public funds. While the PS in Prime Minister’s Office, billions of shillings, at least 50 billions, meant for the rehabilitation of Northern Uganda were robbed. Northern Uganda is in ruins after the two decade brutal war between government and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels led by Joseph Kony.

The PS is the accounting officer of the Ministry. But as the public demanded for his neck, he was transferred to the Gender ministry and president Museveni started referring to him as a whistle blower!

The donors went a step ahead and cut aid to Uganda over these funds. President Museveni raided the public coffers and refunded the stolen money!

Majority Ugandans are living frugally so as to meet their basic obligations. What Janet Kataha, the president’s wife, said that: “Ugandans must be prepared to shoulder the burden of building their country” is right but not while her husband, family and cronies are the only ones sharing the benefits of the nation’s sweat. All Ugandans are supposed to share the benefits of their toil most especially in better service delivery.  

Uganda’s 24 trillion budget is anti people unless hospitals are built, equipped and stocked with drugs; medical personnel are paid meaningful wages; permanent schools are constructed and teachers too paid a meaningful salary among others.

Squeezing the last drop from Ugandans should be preceded by a down-sized cabinet and parliament. Parliamentarians “who wake up to vote for Museveni’s Movement” should be found some household chores in Rwakitura at the expense of the head of the family, not Ugandan tax payers.

Legislating for a banana republic that Uganda is, does not require the baggage of 376 parliamentarians as is the case today. To these add a host of bogus ministerial posts, mushrooming districts and a meandering list of presidential advisors, and Uganda is a perfect Animal Farm.

The oppressive hand of this regime further manifests itself in the business atmosphere. Manufacturers are the transporters, the marketers and distributors.

The business community continues to accuse government of being interested in identifying income-generating avenues, and then smoke local traders out. They claim that this explains the high rate at which indigenous businesses are folding up.

Although Uganda has an environment Ministry, District environmental officials, an environmental authority and legislation to protect the environment, the country is witnessing a massive depletion of forests and wetlands. This would have justified the increased levy on used motor vehicles. But it is not the case.

Not because majority of Ugandan business people trading in Japan are dealing in old motor vehicles and other secondhand household items, but because president Museveni’s government pays lip service to environment protection. Government leads the pack of those destroying the environment.

While the levy for motor vehicles, more than ten years old, has been increased from 20 per cent to 50 per cent, the levy for vehicles, between five to ten years old, has been increased from 20 per cent to 35 per cent. All in the name of environment protection!

The same government is behind the systematic destruction of wetlands and forests in the country in the name of modernization. The so called investors are building their sham industries and factories in wetlands. It gives the impression that government and the foreign investors are bent on poisoning Buganda’s natural water bodies.

According to the National Forestry Authority (NFA) Uganda has lost 900,000 hectares of forest cover over the last ten years to deforestation as most people use charcoal. President Museveni has been in power since 1986.

The stretch between Bweyogerere, along Kampala- Jinja Highway, through Mukono town up to Lugazi is under siege by these investors.

River Kisaala is one such victim. It has been polluted by the Global Paper company to the extent that locals no longer use it to irrigate their gardens and for household activities. The proprietors justify their destruction arguing that it is not a river but just a stream. But even streams deserve protection as they are equally important; the present and future generations depend on them for their livelihood. It is a real threat to agriculture and food security.

There is another hard to explain scenario. The more the tax base is expanded, the more expensive and unreliable electricity becomes. Those using electricity to run their businesses say that they have to apply some unlawful tactics to survive. Electricity which is supposed to be the engine of growth and development has instead become a liability because of unrealistic billing system by Umeme.

“I spent three months without working at my photography studio in Masaka. Umeme has made life difficult for me. They bring bills that they themselves cannot explain,” complains the businessman Mayiiyirizo.

“It is the same thing in Kampala. And they don’t want to listen to us because they do not consider us valuable clients. Yet we pay all the money they steal from us in form of electricity bills. They just want to push us out of business.”

Small scale businesses are on the tax lady’s radar. And all they are getting from the budget is a “simplified tax process and harmonising tax procedures with the East Africa Community.”

They continue to be pitted against the so called investors who get tax holidays and preferential treatment. Chinese and Indian fake investors will continue hawking their substandard commodities and push Ugandans out of business. Being a herdsman, president Museveni cannot claim ignorance of the repercussions of milking an unfed cow. He is definitely aware.

“Government is failing Ugandan traders to be importers and exporters by bringing in Indians and Chinese to do exactly that. They are now occupying the retail shops. Government is oppressing Ugandans simply to meet its selfish interests,” complained the Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA) spokesperson Isa Ssekitto.

Ssekitto adds that the Islamic Bank that offers low interest rates has been frustrated in Uganda while counterparts in Rwanda and Tanzania take advantage of its services.

As government continues to push the populace to a hand to mouth lifestyle, questions are raised to establish who is targeted in this ambiguous and ambitious development drive. Hospitals and schools are rotting away while public workers no longer pride themselves in working for government.

Teachers’ salaries requiring Ushs 130 billion for teachers and 10 billion for non teaching staff in public universities remain a non-funded priority even after the national budget astronomically rose to 24 trillion!

The 2014 World Bank report indicated that while primary school enrolment levels were commendable, completion rates in Uganda are still low at 54 per cent. Questions like: What happens to the drop outs remain unanswered.

The Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG), a coalition of 25 Civil Society Organisations formed in 2004 to promote among others, fiscal and monetary policies that are pro poor, notes that allocating 479 billion shillings to agriculture implies that the strategic investments that would revolutionise agriculture will not be adequately funded and consequently poverty reduction will be a challenge and GDP growth at 6 per cent will be a hard target to reach.

Uganda’s external debt is currently estimated at Ushs 22 trillion. This figure excludes major borrowings like:  US $ 1.7 billion for the Karuma and Isimba power projects; US $ 12 billion for the oil refinery and pipeline; US $ 3 billion for standard gauge railway and US $ 9 billion for other sector projects.

Together, these will push Uganda’s external debt to US $ 33 billion. Of the 24 trillion 2015/16 budget, six trillion has been allocated for debt repayment and servicing. This definitely puts Uganda among the most highly indebted countries with a worrying external debt raising concerns on the country’s capacity to pay.

“We are worried that we are going to be trapped in debts,” notes the Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group.

Once trapped in debts, development, poverty alleviation and human rights remain out of reach for majority ordinary people. That is the situation Uganda finds herself in which the 2015/16 budget cannot address.

“It is not that we do not want to pay taxes. In fact we are eager to pay taxes but these people are at the same time stopping us from doing so. You cannot treat people, who pay taxes, like wild animals.

“Because we pay taxes, it means we have a say in the affairs of this government. We have every right to demand for better services, good governance and accountability. We pay for the salaries of these people who beat us and deny us our rights of association and belonging,” argues Musa who has been trading in Japan.

Musa adds that this year he will be paying Shs. 2,700,000 in form of taxes for his rental units alone.

“How can you torture someone because he does not support your political line or party? That is primitive! How can you be president for thirty years and you cannot show a single hospital constructed during the three decades!

“Imagine president Museveni is fond of calling past presidents pigs. But did you notice that the budget was presented in Serena Hotel which was constructed by former president the late Idi Amin Dada? Before you call this person a pig you must think twice and compare what you have done to his. That is Africa’s problem and reason for not developing.

“Do you know the wealth of talent possessed by all these Ugandans? Where do you get the courage to claim that only you have the vision to lead the country?”

John Patrick Amama Mbabazi is immediate former Prime Minister and former Secretary General of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party. He was, last year, dismissed from the two posts after it became clear that he harboured presidential ambitions. In functional democracies, this would be a step in the right direction.

More so, democracy, good governance, development and poverty alleviation are birds of the same feather; they flock together.

President Museveni’s continued criminalization of competing against him is held responsible for the humiliation deliberately designed to target Amama Mbabazi. For instance, the army was deployed to search his house and office. The Police, these days, is preoccupied with harassing, oppressing and suppressing the members of the Opposition and any one who does not sing president Museveni’s praises.

A letter, accessed by Pearl News Service, written to president Museveni on June 13, 2015 clearly lays out the concerns the country faces but which the leaders have deliberately overlooked. That an insider like Amama Mbabazi is also highlighting the same issues means that they are not far fetched. And that the letter was written only two days after the presentation of the budget, it reinforces the belief that this budget indeed is detached from the plight of the country.

While Mbabazi finally pronounced his intention to compete for the presidency in the 2016 elections, he states that there is urgent need “to transform the economy, to fight corruption, to tackle the scourge of unemployment and to create jobs for all, to provide universal and superior healthcare, to address the quality of education and the skills gap, and to strengthen and respect public institutions and the rule of law among others.

“The time is now for fairness: fairness in the salaries we offer teachers, doctors, nurses, and other medical workers: fairness in the salaries and allowances offered to policemen and soldiers – men and women who sacrifice their lives to protect us: fairness for those in public service and all those Ugandans whose labour powers our economy.

“Whatever age we are in, however, the basic tenets of good governance remain the same. Good governance is based on the rule of law and not on the whims of an individual. Good governance is grounded in equity and inclusiveness and demands the participation of citizens in decision-making. Good governance means a separation of powers where there is autonomy between the Executive, Legislature and Judicial branches of government. Good governance occurs when the Ugandan people expect accountability, transparency and finally, effectiveness and efficiency.”

Amama Mbabazi, frankly put, says that to expect a budget that empowers Ugandans economically, politically and socially, under president Museveni, amounts to crying for the moon. And the solution lies in regime change.