Our revolutionary ruler, Gen Yoweri Museveni, has proposed three significant policy reversals in the last couple of days.
First, he wrote to parliament stopping processing of 10 requests by his government to borrow money. He then proposed merging and closure of some of the parastatals, commissions and state agencies. Third, he wants unnecessary travels abroad reduced.
Because of the many bad things that he routinely does, Museveni makes it difficult for anyone sensible to thank him for a one-off good thing.
But as someone who has written and spoken against wastage of taxpayers’ money, let me welcome this stunt, if for not anything else, at least for its face value.
In a March 2016 report on public debt, the ministry of Finance revealed that we had, as of December 2015, borrowed $9.67 billion both from foreign and domestic sources. This is more than one-third of our reported $27 billion GDP.
I have not looked at the March 2017 report on loans. I think we must be approaching half our GDP, beyond which the debt will become unsustainable. And I am quoting official figures.
Therefore, any proposal to scale down on borrowing, even if it is for cosmetic reasons, is welcome. Mind you, it is ordinary Ugandans who will repay these loans when the revolutionary is long gone.
Having failed on many core issues such as health, education, accountability and good governance, Mr Museveni wants to shield his incompetence with mainly roads and electricity.
We have advised this government to scale down on borrowing to no avail. Look, we currently produce 862MW of electricity and we consume just about 600MW at peak hours. This means we have a surplus. But we have borrowed nearly Shs 3 trillion from China to build Karuma and Ayago dams.
Granted, we need to plan for the future, but in a planned and sequenced manner. Already, we are paying nearly Shs 60 billion for the surplus energy that we are not using. Investors are charging us for electricity produced and not consumed.
Wait when the Chinese begin charging us for the nearly 800MW to be generated by the new dams. Why, for example, didn’t we borrow to build Ayago and then, seven years later, borrow to build Karuma or build it using money from our oil?
We have borrowed for all sorts of things including smaller amounts to build education centres of excellence and establishment of a model farming village in Karamoja. These are things we should finance using locally-raised revenue.
Museveni told us during the budget reading that our debt is sustainable. He now wants us to stop useless borrowing. Let us look at travels.
Last financial year, Uganda spent Shs 111.8 billion on travels abroad (tickets and per diem) and Shs 240.8 billion on travels within the country. Under State House and the President’s Office, travel abroad amounted to nearly Shs 40 billion.
We spent Shs 104 billion on workshops and seminars. We spent Shs 150 billion on fuel, Shs 99 billion on vehicle repairs and Shs 184 billion on replacing vehicles that had aged.
That is why I proposed a zero-fleet policy like it was in Rwanda at one time and I am still waiting for an opportunity to present my motion in parliament.
The gist of my proposal was that besides the president, vice president, speaker of parliament, deputy speaker, leader of opposition, chief justice and deputy chief justice, the rest of public servants should be given loans to buy tax-free vehicles of their choice. The money should be recovered from their allowances and salaries.
If adopted, we will not spend the billions on fuel, drivers, repairs and purchases. I hope I will be allowed to present this proposal at one stage.
In Tanzania, it has worked. There was a time we travelled to Rwanda for the East African parliament’s sports gala and Tanzania didn’t show up. Reason, their new president, John Pombe Magufuli, had said there was no money for leisurely travels.
I understand Magufuli even halted celebrations to mark the country’s independence, preferring to use the money to construct a road in Dar es Salaam. This is what is called acting by example.
In the case of Uganda, Mr Museveni, who is fighting useless expenditure, still employs 1,600 staff at his residence and in his office. The number of presidential advisors – by the way these are idle people – is now at 141. There is even an advisor on Kigezi diocese! Really!
Each year, Mr Museveni allocates himself about Shs 90 billion for donation, which is the reason these days he is randomly stopping at every roadside market or workshop to donate to vendors.
It is a very good idea to merge parastatals, but it will change nothing if the big man continues creating districts, municipalities, ministries, etc.
On page 68 of its August 2016 report, the Electoral Commission reveals that the country now has 2,286,158 elective offices to fill.
These elections cost money, but the offices need more money to run. But because many of these offices are filled by Museveni supporters and they help him stay in power, he is speaking only against parastatals.
Merging parastatals and reducing on borrowing and travels abroad are too good proposals, but they can’t mean anything under Museveni’s extravagant leadership.
semugs@yahoo.com
The author is Kira Municipality MP and spokesperson of the Forum for Democratic Change.