Africa-Press – Uganda. Address haemorrhage in govt before blaming others
On Thursday, President Museveni once again expressed his disappointment with those who are perpetuating the haemorrhaging of Africa’s resources and development energies to other places. Describing it as “betrayal by the African elites”, the President who was interfacing with members of the Uganda Bankers’ Association (UBA) said it was undermining the growth of African purchasing power.
The President was right, but it is crucial that we stop looking at the haemorrhaging of Africa’s resources only in terms of the jobs that we donate to the foreigners when we export raw materials, or the little that we earn – about 10 percent of the value of what is produced out of what we export.
We need to be looking at the haemorrhaging of resources by subjecting to serious scrutiny what we are spending as a nation whose economy has been left on its knees, first by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war, including volatility of the international markets, depreciation of the shilling against the dollar and spiralling inflation.
It does not make a lot of sense for us to advocate ending the haemorrhaging of the continent’s resources when we lack the financial discipline required to be frugal and also get our investment and expenditure priorities right.
Civil society and the public have over the years shouted themselves hoarse over the humongous bills that the taxpayers have to pick in order to maintain a Cabinet of more than 82 members, a Parliament of 529 legislators, 122 Resident District Commissioners (RDCs), more than 8o deputy RDCs and more than 160 presidential advisors and assistants.
Each of the Cabinet ministers enjoys a chauffeur-driven ride that comes at a cost of not less than Shs200m and some of them have lead and escort cars that go for nearly the same amounts of money. We are talking of in excess of Shs20b on Cabinet ministers’ cars alone. We have not factored in the salaries and allowances.
The country has already spent more than Shs77.1b on cars for members of the 11th Parliament. They are also going to pick more than Shs771b in salaries and more than Shs30.84b on town running allowances. There is also going to be another Shs138.78b in subsistence allowances and a host of other perks, all picked by the taxpayer.
The situation calls for a rethink on the part of government. It calls for emphasis on cutting public expenditure and funding productive sectors of the economy. Let us talk about the haemorrhaging in government before we talk about the haemorrhage of the continent’s resources.
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