Education minister, commissioners snub Parliament

The committee was today, Friday, January 13 slated to meet top officials from the Ministry of Education to respond to a number of queries raised by all the agencies under it as far as their 2023/24 budget framework is concerned.

However, only 5 commissioners out of 17 turned up for the meeting with only 1 minister out of the 4, something that annoyed legislators, accusing the ministry of undermining the committee.

It is not yet clear what concerns the legislators have regarding the Ministry of Education’s 2023/24 budget framework.

According to the State Minister for Sports, Peter Ogwanga, the other management members had gone to Kyangwazi to attend the closing ceremony of the headteachers’ retreat.

The chairperson of the education committee, John Twesigye, said the Ministry of Education and Sports should provide proof that the commissioners who were absent were indeed in Kyankwanzi.

In December last year, the government tabled the National Budget Framework Paper totalling sh49.9 trillion for the Financial Year 2023/2024.

The document, which paves way for the budget approval process by Parliament, was tabled during a 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 totalling, 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, the House 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.