PARLIAMENT PASSES A 32 TRILLION BUDGET; INFRASTRUCTURE TAKES LIONS SHARE
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Parliament has passed the National Budget for the financial year 2018/2019 of 32 trillion Uganda shillings with the growth in the economy expected to be at 4.6%.
This is an 11.6% (Shs 3,357 bn) increase from the concluding 2017/2018 financial year’s Shs 29Trillion Budget.
In a parliamentary meeting chaired by the deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanya, according to the Chairperson of the Budget committee Amos Lugolobi the public debt is expected to increase by 36 percent.
The long awaited national budget for the next financial year that flags off on the 1st of July 2018 is set to leave majority of Ugandans grappling as new nine tax bills have been passed by parliament in a bid to increase on the country’s tax base.
Reading the budget report to the august House sitting on Thursday, the Committee chairperson Amos Lugolobi informed legislators that the next financial year budget is to cost the country 32 trillion shillings.
Lugolobi however informed parliament that legislators have disagreed on the issue of salary enhancement for the post primary science teachers arguing that it’s against the constitution article 40(d) as it brings about discrimination.
Parliament now has recommended that the 98billion shillings meant for the enhancement of science teachers be sent to others sectors as 18billion of this amount will be used to recruit more 2000 science teachers in the country in order to increase their number.
Parliament has also recommended that Shs 9 billion be used to recruit 1200 English and literature teachers and Shs71 billion be equally allocated to all science and arts teachers.
The other sectors that have received priority are technology, Operation wealth creation, Coffee production, Petroleum authority among others.
However, a minority report on the budget was tabled by five legislators led by Dokolo woman MP Cecilia Ogwal, Robert Centenary, Muwanga Kivumbi and others noting that the budget was not aligned to the national budget frame work paper which is in breach of the law.
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