The MPs say prioritisation of the Force’s budget needs would enable it carry out it’s mandate without fail.
The Member of Parliament for Lwemyiyaga County, Sembabule district, Thoedore Ssekikubo, said allocating sh823b instead of the requested sh2 trillion for financial year 2023/24 would make the Force’s work difficult which wouldn’t be good for national security, peace and order.
“The Ministry of Defense and Veteran Affairs really needs to prioritise the budgetary needs of the Uganda Police Force. Not doing so would make it hard for the Force to fulfill its mandate. Giving the Force lass money compared to what it asked for is totally unacceptable,” he said.
This MPs made the demands today Monday 16 January 2022 when ministers from both the defense and internal affairs ministries appeared before the committee to present their budget paper framework for financial year 2023/24.
While appearing before the committee, the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Godfrey Katsigazi, told the MPs that the Force is constrained in terms of man power, saying that the citizen to police ratio is 1-800 compared to the ideal 1-500.
“The Police force faces a lot of challenges when it comes to kind of work, we have visa vi the manpower we have. The current police ratio is 1-800 compared to the ideal 1-500,” he said while appearing before the committee.
In December last year, Government tabled the National Budget Framework Paper totaling sh49.9 trillion for the Financial Year 2023/2024.
The document, which paves way for the budget approval process by Parliament, was tabled during plenary sitting on Friday, 23 December 2022 by the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Matia Kasaija.
The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Thomas Tayebwa, who presided over the House referred the framework paper totaling, sh49.9 trillion to the committee on Budget and other relevant sectoral committees for consideration.
According to the Public Finance Management Act, the Government should table the budget framework paper before Parliament by 31 December 2022, and by 01 February 2023, Parliament should have approved the budget framework paper.
“The preliminary resource envelope for Financial Year 2023/2024 is projected at sh49.9 trillion, compared to Shs48.1 trillion for the Financial Year 2022/2023 reflecting an increase of sh1.8 trillion,” Kasaija said.