Opinion: UGX 10k donation drive from COVID-19 Fund is just distasteful…

In a Republic, where the Members of Parliament just delivered 20 million shillings either to pet projects in their communities or directly back to the state. In the same Republic, where the MPs got 40 million shillings to vote in favour of praising the President. The COVID-19 Fund is asking all employees to contribute 10,000 shillings to the COVID-19. These are ordinary working folk, the ones who cannot even touch the NSSF Fund and get payback on their contributions there for their retirement. As in the time of need and during lockdown, the workers have been stifled and eaten beans.

Therefore, its mighty rich of the COVID-19 to ask the Chief Executives to stifle the workers and give them less salary so they can over the COVID-19 Fund. Just as the State is getting loans and grants from everywhere. From the World Bank, from the IMF and elsewhere. There is piling in money to cover the costs of the pandemic. Surely, this money will got 4W Drive SUVs for RDCs and High Ranking Officials. Not like this money will go to PPE, Nurses Salaries or anything substantial in the midst of a global pandemic.

So, its really disgraceful and distasteful to do this. To send a letter asking the Chief Executive to shave off salaries of the workers. Who has already struggled and need every shilling for their day to day expenses. Let’s be clear, let the wealthy, the factory owners, the foreign investors and the State House pay-off this. Lets use the Confidential Expenditure to cover the COVID-19 Fund. Instead of spending on side-dishes, ammunition and whatnot.

The COVID-19 Fund should appeal to the President and the Ministry of Planning, Finance and Economic Development (MoPFED). Not ask for donations from the average workers. That is like a volunteer tax. The state either taxes it directly or they get wealthy donations to the COVID-19. However, when the MPs and other state officials are eating large.

This sort of enterprise is insincere and disingenuous. Yes, the COVID-19 Fund is meant well, but what its asking for and the way they do it isn’t it. The state who has begged international donors to save its budget. Should use that to salvage this fund, not ask workers who couldn’t get monetary help during the lockdown. That is not right, but just deceitful. Peace.

The NRM Regime have during the FY2015/2016 fallen behind on paying out UGX 2.7 trillion!

Today I am dropping numbers that are devastating, as the numbers of debt that the National Resistance Movement (NRM) isn’t paying, show’s sufficient motives for malpractice when it comes to budgeting and the structure of payments. There are certainly not enough transparency and clear audit of the state reserves, as the State is misusing seriously amount of funds. The NRM Regime and their President should be ashamed by their record.

Emmanuel Katongole is the Head Information Technology in the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (MoFPED) in Uganda on the 12^th April 2017, he dropped a document on their web-page that show’s the domestic arrears of the Republic of Uganda in the last Financial Year.

If you wonder what Domestic Arrears means: “The amount by which a government has fallen behind in its payment of interest and principal on debt to lenders within its own country” (Encyclo.co.uk). So Katongole will literately show how bad the National Resistance Movement is on paying their bills and expenditure. All the sums of this report is in Ugandan Shillings (UGX).

Like under the Office of the President and the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) who itself leaves arrears in the margin of 3.8bn shillings and 8bn shillings in other payable arrears. That one part of the budget and current audit of the Office of the President as the total of verified arrears at June 2016 was 37bn shillings alone. So the Office of the President owes a lot of funds that it hasn’t paid, not only for the ISO!

The State House by the verified arrears at June 2016 was 1bn shillings. What is more unsettling is that the Pensions and Gratitude for Veterans are the sum of 183bn shillings, Survivors 315bn shillings, EXGRATIA 10bn and UNLA 26bn shillings. The Ministry of Defense by June 2016 verified arrears was 718bn shillings! So the MoD are a lax payer of their expenses and expenditure.

Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs owes verified arrears by June 2016 the amount of 684bn. Shillings Court Awards unpaid by the Ministry is 203bn shillings. The Electoral Commission has growing verified arrears by June 2016 because of Unsettled penal insterest for URA in the total sum of 3.2bn shillings. Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) has by June 2016 billed up verified arrears by 283bn shillings.

This is just some of the government that has not paid their dues and their expenses, their salaries or pensions, even their lacking covering of funds to pay debt, either internal or external. So the National Resistance Movement are clearly running an economy and fiscal policy that isn’t healthy for the republic.

Just to drop the total sum that the Government of Uganda has failed to pay or failed payments on their debt are by June 2016 the total of 2.7 Trillions of Uganda Shillings! Which is an insane number and amount of misspent monies by the state. The strategy by the Republic to fail so miserably cannot be sustainable, as the invoices and the target to pay their debt should be the most important. Still, the NRM doesn’t seem to think so. They are surely missing steps to having a sound economy when the verified arrears are hitting 2.7 trillions by June 2016. So the Financial Year of 2015/2016, the Ugandan government failed to serve out over 2 trillion of their needed expenses!

What is troubling that the year before, the total state had not paid on their debt and failing expenses in the Financial Year of 2014/2015 as by June 2015 we’re totally 1.389 or close to 1.4 Trillion shillings. So the miss-match between FY2014/2015 and FY 2015/2016 are 1.3 Trillion shillings. So the clear picture is that the Election Year for the NRM is very, very expensive.

Just think about that… eat the bill and pound on the amount of lost monies in the system. Peace.

 

Press Release: Appoinment of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CNOC Ltd Uganda (01.06.2016)