Civil societies task gov’t to come up with a proper National budget

By Kiyimba Bruno
Kiyimba.bruno@gmail.com

Civil societies (CSOs) under the umbrella of the Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG) have cautioned government to come up with a proper budget that can bridge the gap between the grievances of the previous financial years and the current one.

Agnes Kirabo, the director for Food Rights Alliance Uganda said that they are not seeing any difference in the challenges that Ugandans have had in the previous financial years and the current one.

She added that she is surprised that the government is not even concerned in revamping the national food reserve.

“As Uganda we do not even have a national food reserve for ourselves “Said Kirabo

She went ahead to say that everyone out there is condemning farmers and Ugandans at large that they do not have granaries yet the country itself does not have one.

“If you are expecting China to come for your rescue in the next financial year at no cost, then you are mislead” Noted Kirabo

She said that if hunger comes back to Uganda, there are going to be a very high cost which we have not looked at.

“We are not seeing commitment to increase food production but instead cash crops” Said Kirabo. She continued to say that the cash crops take a lot of time to grow so that a farmer can yield income to buy again food.

On this note she alarmed of malnutrition that might come into the country.

Kirabo added that she is seeing a clear reduction of government expenditure from Shs84 billion to Shs83billon which to her surprise expects at one moment this money to go down up to Shs2m.

According to the statement that was released by the CSOs, with a resource envelope of Shs29.9274 trillion and a project GDP growth target of 5.5%, the FY NBFP2018/19 highlights the fact that Uganda is unlikely to achieve its aspiration of the middle income country by 2020.

The CSOs believe that government needs to rethink its approaches and come up with innovative measures to redeem the country’s growth prospects if Uganda is to achieve a better life for all Ugandans.