The government has allocated a total of Shs1.073 trillion to the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) involved in the whole electoral roadmap, n the December 2020 Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Update released by the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development has revealed.
Section 19(1)(a) of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) 2015 requires the Minister of Finance to publish a pre-election economic and fiscal update not earlier than four months before the polling day for a general election. Section 19 (2) of the Act provides that the update shall detail all the election related spending including the expenses of the Electoral Commission for the cost of the general election and any other expenses of a vote related to the election.
The report signed off by Moses Kaggwa on behalf of Secretary to Treasury indicated that Total funds required by the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) involved in preparation and conduct of the general elections for the electoral roadmap 2019/20 –2021/22 is Shs1.255Trn and the biggest share of this amount -Shs772.24 billion is required by the Electoral Commission.
According to the breakdown, Shs224.25 billion was budgeted and released for election related activities in 2019/20, while in 2020/21, Shs849.17bn was budgeted for these activities bringing the total to Shs1,073Trn.
Of this amount, Shs768.42 billion has already been released to the various MDAs involved in election activities.
All MDAs involved in the electoral process were allocated funds as requested in FY2019/20 and FY2020/21, with exception of Uganda Police Force whose budget was cut by Parliament by Shs67.10bn, and the Electoral Commission which programmed to receive some of the funds in 2021/22 to cover post-election costs.
The Ministry of Finance added that as of November 2020, Shs456.87 billion had been spent on elections-related activities with the bulk of this amount- Shs274.11bn spent by the Electoral Commission followed by the Uganda Police Force at Shs154.79 billion.
Credit: businessfocus.co.ug
