Parliament should go slow on approving loans, says former minister
BENSON ONGOM
The former minister for Lands, Omara Atubo, has accused Parliament leadership of failing to guide the house, by continuing to preside over a Parliament whose main business is to approve loans.
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He said the House had turned into a debt trap for Ugandans because they will shoulder the burden of repaying the debts.
On several occasions, the speaker and her deputy have presided over a House that has contributed to the rising public debt due to their endorsement of government’s constant and regular borrowing.
Omara criticised the Parliament Appointments Committee for failing to do checks and balances on appointed government officials who run approved budgets.
The former Lands minister said the loan requests for Lubowa specialised hospital and Uganda Airlines were questionable and clearly expose Parliament.
He called for a change in policies to enhance accountability committees' scrutiny of Auditor General’s reports as opposed to what he described as postmortem.
According to the Auditor General’s report, Uganda’s public debt rose to Shs41.5 trillion at the end of the financial year ending June 2018, up from Shs33.9 trillion the previous year, on account of borrowing to finance the construction of Kabaale International Airport in Bunyoro and to complete the Karuma dam among other development projects.
