Parliament: The Ministry of Defence does not have Shs87.594 billion needed to increase salaries of lower cadre soldiers and equate them to that of a primary school teacher.
The information in the Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs policy statement submitted to parliament for consideration in the on-going budget process.
Lower cadre soldiers currently earn less than Shs400, 000 (US $110) while a primary school teacher earns Shs480, 000 (US $122).
The ministry is asking parliament to avail funds to at least effect
the pay rise in two instalments: Shs43.797bn in the coming financial year and the balance in FY 2018/19.
Defence also notes that it does not have money Shs84.495bn to buy clothing and footwear items from local industries to adequately dress the troops and also pay the expected unpaid bills by end of FY 2016/17.
If the current defence budget is passed as it has been presented,
soldiers will also be Shs66.6bn short to cater for the food budget
and also an additional Shs24.3 billion needed for fuel for movement of troops and logistics, training and operations.
The ministry also notes that the medical budget on referrals to
private hospitals is greatly underfunded and the ministry requires
Shs4.3bn to settle hospital bills.
Also the existing UPDF fleet requires constant maintenance in terms of tyres, spare parts and routine maintenance and the budget requires additional shs19.093bn to cater for this.
The construction of the Military Referral hospital, the policy
statement notes, requires Shs130bn but the ministry has only Shs40 billion.
A balance of Shs90 billion is required to complete the construction works.
Pension and gratuity for retired soldiers with a backlog of Shs357.9 billion will also not be funded if the ministry’s budget is passed without MPs providing money for it.
However in a bid to improve their ministry, the minister says they
will continue to improve human development through training and
retraining of officers and men and also consolidate and strengthen the monitoring and evaluation functions.
“The ministry will engage in income-generating activities such as
production to support the ministry’s budget and also request
government and ministry of land to shift land compensation claims of Shs72 billion to ministry of lands for payment in line with the compulsory acquisition Act and Land Act 1998,” the policy statement reads in part.
It further reads, “The ministry will engage government to uplift the
allocations to the ministry over the MTEF period to cover recurring
deficits on feeding, fuel, wage, medical, utilities and classified
expenditure.”
