Parliament-Watch-Bulletin_Mid-Term-Audit-2014

A Mid Term Citizens’ Assessment of the 9th Parliamentplace tight conditions. Review the tax policies that havemade it very expensive for localSMEs and citizens including a47% tax burden. Review the legal procedures thathave continued to hinder localsfrom starting business. Enact laws, resolutions andpolicies that protect indigenousinnovations, art, industries andbusiness. Undertake measures that protectUganda’s business interests andbusinesses abroad. Raise current budget allocationsto agriculture up to 10% of thenational budget.the Accountants (Amendment) Act2012. Six bills in the offing i.e. the ChattelsSecurities Bill, 2009; the Anti-Counterfeiting Goods Bill No. 22,2010, the Free Zones Bill 2010, theInvestment Code Bill, 2010, the PublicPrivate Partnership Bill, 2010, the saleof Goods and Supply of Services Bill,2008. A motion of parliament to authorizegovernment to borrow USD $100million from the InternationalDevelopment Association of the WorldBank Group to finance theCompetitiveness and EnterpriseDevelopment Project A motion of parliament to introduce aprivate member’s bill on Land andAgricultural Development Bank Motion of parliament to authorizeGovernment to borrow US $ 5 millionfrom the ISFD to support the Dry landIntegrated Development Project inKaramoja Motion of parliament on theinequitable admission criteria ofStudents at Makerere University,Kampala 2014 Policy measures have been designed toimprove business environment andreduce the cost of running business,consultations to establish a One Stopeconomy implying thatagriculture has a huge impacton the economy. Agriculture budgetallocations not in tandemwith Comprehensive AfricaAgriculture DevelopmentProgramme (CAADP)declaration target of at least10%, allocation of theNational Budget, theagricultural annual budgetalso falls below the NDPtarget of 4.0%. Inflation in Uganda is forinstance driven by food pricesas evidenced in the 27.2%weight given to food inflation.The high lending rates haverestricted access to credit aslending rates are still as highas 23.1%. Public debt continues to growat alarming rate, an increasein external borrowing rose to$5.6billion in 20137 whichplaces us in the top rank ofhighly-indebted countrieswith questionable capacity topay. As of 30 th April 2011, thetotal domestic debt resultingfrom issuance of Governmentsecurities by Bank of Ugandafor monetary purposes wasUGX 3.87 trillion, However,7 Uganda Debt Network, “Issues paper on Uganda’s Debt Status, June 2002/2003-June 2011/2012”7 Uganda Debt Network, “Issues paper on Uganda’s Debt Status, June 2002/2003-June 2011/2012”and protection, increasingdomination of importedmanufactured products thataffect local productioncapability and businessregulatory inefficienciesamong others. Parliament should causegovernment to direct publicexpenditure to moreproductive areas of theeconomy like Agriculturewhich is the country’s majoreconomic backbone. This willboost economic growth andreduce public debts andborrowing. Strengthen monitoringcapacity of parliament tooversee the performance ofvarious economic sectors andstate agencies especially thosethat have had poor budgetabsorption capacity that affectservice delivery. Parliament needs to reviewsome Acts in order to enablethe efficient management ofpublic debts. For instance thePFAA (2003) should bereviewed to prescribe specificpenalties/punitive measuresfor public servants whocommit Government toborrowing over and aboveallocated budgetary resources.The Debt Strategy of 200718UGMP September 2014