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Your Excellency the President; and,
• Mama Janet Museveni – First Lady & Minister of Education & Sports,
• Your Excellency the Vice President,
• His Lordship the Chief Justice,
• The Rt. Hon. Deputy Speaker,
• His Lordship the Chief Justice,
• The Vice Chairman of NRM,
• The Rt. Hon. Prime Minister & Leader of Government Business in Parliament
• The Leader of the Opposition in Parliament,
• Cabinet Ministers & Ministers of State, Members of Parliament,
• Your Excellences the Ambassadors and High Commissioners,
• Leaders of Political Parties
• All Public Servants present,
• Distinguished Guests,
• Ladies and Gentlemen.
I welcome you to today’s sitting of Parliament, whose main objective is to receive the Budget Speech for the Financial Year 2022/2023.
As you may recall, when we gathered here a week ago, on the 7th June 2022 to receive the State of the Nation Address, I adjourned the House to today 14th June 2022 for purposes of receiving the budget speech.
Anita Annet Among delivers her Budget Speech prior to Budget reading/Courtesy Photo.
Preparation of the Budget is a constitutional obligation of His Excellency the President of Uganda imposed under article 155 (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda which states that:
“The President shall cause to be prepared and laid before Parliament in each financial year but in any case, not later than the fifteenth day before the commencement of the financial year, estimates of revenues and expenditure of Government for the next financial year.”
The Budget Speech, that we are going to receive today, is a culmination of the budget formulation and approval process which began with the Budget Call Circular for the Financial Year 2022/23 issued on 15th September 2021 in line with Section 9 (3) of the Public Finance Management Act, 2015.
Parliament received and considered the National Budget Framework Paper FY 2022/23 – 2026/27 in accordance with Section 9(5) and (8) of the Public Finance Management Act.
Your Excellency; the Ministries, Departments and Agencies submitted their Ministerial Policy Statements for FY 2022/23 in accordance with Section 13 (13) of the Public Finance Management Act. The Ministerial Policy Statements were considered together with the Budget Estimates FY 2022/23 which calumniated in the passing of the Appropriation Bill, 2022.
Honorable Members, the Budget Speech is the Minister of Finance’s statement of the overall budget policy of the Executive for the forthcoming year and a summary of key budget policy proposals.
The importance of the Budget process is anchored in the legislature’s philosophical and historical power of the purse that is provided for under Article 156 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda.
The power of appropriation denotes the constitutional mandate of the legislature to authorize the expenditure of public money for purposes proposed by the Executive. This authority is elaborated under Chapter 9 of the Constitution, specifically Articles 152 – 159 that are operationalized by the Public Finance Management Act, 2015. Indeed the exercise of these powers is manifest in the appropriation mandate of Parliament.
Budget Implementation will commence on the 1st July 2022. I urge all the legible Accounting Officers to ensure value for money in their expenditure of the approved budget. I call upon all of you Accounting Officers to be accountable for all the resources brought under your charge in line with article 164 of the Constitution.
In this regard, I reiterate the commitment of the 11th Parliament, to effectively play our oversight role in examining economy efficiency and effectiveness in the expenditure of public funds.
The Budget reading process offers the country and citizens an opportunity to know the Government priorities for the next financial year. It informs us of how the desired revenue will be raised and forms the basis upon which all Accounting Officers or implementing authorities shall be held responsible. I therefore urge all of you to listen attentively so that we can move together as a nation.
Honorable Members, once we are done with today very important obligation on the Budget; I urge all of you to go to your constituencies and monitor the implementation preparatory activities of the Parish Development Model so as to ensure its success. A lot of money will be channeled to your constituencies through the Parish Development therefore its success is critical to you as a leader and your people.
Honorable Members as we start the second session of this Parliament; we will dedicate the first meeting to consider bills, the second meeting to consider reports, petitions and motions and third meeting to consider the Budget.
I therefore urge the Executive to table the Bills enumerated in the Address on the State of the Nation by His Excellency the President as quickly as possible to that they can be expeditiously handled. I also wish to remind the Chairpersons to process the Bills before their committees with utmost urgency. This House intends not to leave any pending bills at the end to the session.
Finally, Honorable Colleagues, the Leadership has organized a three day Induction workshop for Members of the 11th Parliament from the 15th – 17th June 2022 at the Imperial Royale Hotel.
I urge all of you to attend all the sessions of this important workshop.
Thank you.