KAMPALA-For the first time in Uganda, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Mathias Mpuuga last Friday presented an alternative to the government’s 2023/4 budget, finding Shs10 trillion on the revenue side that could be added to boost service delivery in the country.
MP Mpuuga’s alternative budget themed, ‘Rethinking Uganda’s Economy: A Human Rights Approach’, proposed removal of tax holidays and ending exemptions that his Shadow Finance Minister, Muwanga Kivumbi said would the treasury bolster funds for public services.
The alternative budget also seeks to wage an all-out war on corruption and substitute contract employment for permanence in public service to boost productivity.
Kivumbi said if everyone pays taxes, there will be Shs 32trn available for discretionary use in the budget away from a ballooning statutory expenditure, as opposed to government’s Shs 22trn.
“Tax exemptions amount to Shs 7.7trn; we are saying if we are in government, everyone will pay taxes, just like the poor pay,” he said.
He proposed that if Members of Parliament and councilors paid tax on their emoluments, the treasury would have more Shs 100 billion.
“People serving in the armed forces at senior positions, he said, will also pay taxes, ‘to exhibit a high sense of patriotism,” he said
The Opposition promised to slash expenditure on security, saying theirs will be a government keen on investing in diplomacy, which Kivumbi said is cheaper.
Mpuuga criticised government’s handling of the current raging inflation saying it has adopted a solution that has ended up inflicting more pain on the poor than alleviating their suffering.
“The country is facing structural inflation and you do not invoke the kind of response that the government is employing; the people are broke, the kind of inflation we have is not because there is too much money in circulation competing for few commodities,” he said.
He traced the inflation to a balance of trade payment which is the assessment of what a country exports against what it imports, saying production of commodities imported by Uganda has been slow, and that this is causing ‘imported inflation’.
He cited the vast iron ores in South Western Uganda, which he said if harnessed, could transform the country into an exporter of iron products in the entire Sub-Saharan Africa.
Mpuuga condemned government for allowing tax exemptions, which he said is responsible for the low revenue collections forcing government to borrow.
The Opposition proposed the allocation of Shs 2.9trn to the health sector, which Mpuuga said is yet to recover from the ravages of Covid-19.
“Uganda’s health indicators remain unsatisfactory and disparities continue to exist across the country. The Covid-19 pandemic has strained health systems and disrupted essential health services, leading to reversal of some of the health gains in the last five years, especially in teenage pregnancy,” he said.
The National Unity Platform Party President, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu criticised government for what he called neglect of the country’s youth.
“We believe that it is possible to build a Uganda that works for everybody; gross corruption, inequality and lack of opportunity for the majority of the people is rampant,” he said.
Government plans to spend about Shs 50 trillion in the next financial year 2023/2024.
https://thecooperator.news/2023-2024-budget-mpuuga-pledges-to-support-social-protection-funding-drive/
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