The First Ugandan Post-Budget-Speech Dialogue

The Budget for the Financial Year 2019/ 2020 with the theme “Industrialisation for Job Creation and Shared Prosperity” was delivered on Thursday 13th June 2019. However, Ugandans still wanted to evaluate it like they do for their introductions, weddings, birthday anniversaries plus other functions and had a well-focused discussion organised by Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development; URA (Uganda Revenue Authority) plus CSBAG (Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group). It was the first Post-Budget Speech Dialogue of its kind and the main one was held at Serena Hotel KLA City on Thursday 20th June 2019, that’s exactly one week after Budget Day instead of the advertised 25th June 2019. Other dialogues in major cities countrywide like Arua at Tropical Suites Hotel (former Hillview - not fully attended), Hoima, Lira, Soroti and Kabale would take place the following Friday 21st. FOWODE (Forum for Women in Democracy) also organised its own later in KLA. Below are some ideas I jotted down from the URA Breakfast, but attributed them to noone in particular though they are from many voices. I’m using The Economist Newspaper policy of just sharing intelligence without bylines. None of these ideas below is my own, just my selection or paraphrase from the final hour of the breakfast before 1PM. A National Budget is a proposal of revenues and expenditures that Government expects for a new fiscal year.

The budget that Finance Minister Matia Kasaija read in 2019 was the Best I ever listened to in my Life even though I was busy designing kindergarten charts on manila papers and missed some parts. However, what made me love it first on TV then radio is the fact that I never heard him talking about new taxes being introduced on what not like in many previous budgets including from my Favourite Finance Minister Ezra Suruma. Maybe I missed those moments (I did not even doublecheck), but it sounded quite fresh as if the Oil in Bunyoro brought a different feeling this year, talking about seven more Trillions and stuff. Also, President Yoweri Museveni’s speech after the budget reading was quite amazing, just like the State of the Nation address he gave the Thursday before Budget Day. M7 seems to have mastered public speech. It’s not that am blinded by my affiliation to NRM, but this year is just different. Last year was: Investments, investments, investments! This year, the economy is now on shwooo [Whistle and Takeoff Gesture]:

Mbalala Area in Mukono on Jinja Road floods when it rains because industries were built in the wetlands… NEMA and Police need to do their work so that manufacturers follow… Environment needs attention like reforestation. We need climate-smart interventions… Government has made a deliberate decision to stop the importation of vehicles, save money to pay teachers and provide water… Government waived tax arrears… One of the Biggest Taxpayers to URA is Government, regular flows and arrears is their obligation… Who will pay taxes? Businesses must contribute and not individual people… Funding a budget is supposed to be from your resources and not debts. If we respecta tax law, we will not have a problem… SMEs are good at running away… 80 percent of the budget is going to energy, roads which require steel and cement… What are the risk factors of this budget? People near the Albertine Graben want their area to remain unpolluted. They do not care that the Government will get the money because they definitely will… In Nakaseke, per capita income of constituents was 112 Dollars in 2014 according to UBOS instead of 800 Dollars. We need to raise it to at least 500. URA should not overtax incomes so that we can help every district to reach 1,200 Dollars per capita income… Incentives are awarded to foreigners differently and members of the East African Community are treated like citizens. How can we compete with them that way? In relation to the 500 Billion tax waiver, Parliament rejected these waivers in 2013 because documents presented were not authentic… People in the village do not see the value of tax… We are all here talking this nice English because of teachers… Agriculture is an issue that concerns all of us. Budget allocation to it should be increased even more… 21 oil fields have been discovered in the country; 14 are commercial… The country has to prepare itself; Government has prepared the institutional framework to take forward projects of this magnitude… Land acquisition is going on, Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) dialogues are going on. Geotechnical assessment is being carried out to make sure the land can accommodate the activities to be carried out on it. Can the ground hold this equipment? Investors have a role to play in taking these decisions forward. Benefits of the oil and gas sector are broader than revenue acquired from selling crude oil. 20 Billion Dollars will be coming in during the next three to five years. The Tourism industry will benefit when foreign workers come into the country for five years; we prepared for Chogm but the workers won’t need much government support. This period is being used by Government to prepare; we are going somewhere… Industrialisation without exporting will not lead us anywhere. Domestic borrowing also involves foreigners investing in local securities… If we cannot save, we cannot invest. Many in the SME sector cannot save because we have less than five employees according to the Law… Since markets are closing around us (Rwanda closed border, DR Congo has Ebola and South Sudan is at war), Industries are operating at less than 50 percent capacity… Challenges ahead of budget implementation are real… For the issue of steel and cement, if government assigns a project, the contractor is deemed to have already paid VAT… Government should find a way to advertise what they are doing with the taxmoney: You can see roads, hospitals, etc. How do we push this information and show where the money is going? There is a Budget Week at Kololo Airstrip! 30th June of every year, filing of returns is required by URA… We have risks in everything we do in life… Failure on revenue targets will force government to adjust the budget through Parliament… If the electricity went off today, will the 70 percent who do not have electricity be affected? They will be badly hit because hospitals will not run, medicine will disappear. So more good roads everywhere are also important, that way pregnant women can get to the hospitals quickly or give birth smoothly. There will be soap for you to wash your clothes, etc. 68 percent of products sold in Ugandan supermarkets are now from within…