Speaker Anitah Among has revealed that President Kaguta Museveni will give State of Nation Address on June 6, 2024 and then the 2024/25 national budget will be read to the nation on June 13, 2024.
“This morning, I got the confirmation from President Museveni on the State of Nation Address. The State of Nation Address will be on 6th June 2024 and the budget reading will be on June 13, 2024 and after that the President will open the next parliament session,” Among said.
Among also promised to hold talks with Special Forces Command (SFC), the elite Force offerings security to the Presidency, to end the practice of confiscating phones and iPads of MPs, and also end compulsory #Covid tests for MPs whenever they are meeting President Museveni, after some MPs said that such actions inconvenience lawmakers.
“The State of Nation Address is your function, it is a parliament function. We are only inviting the president to address us and start the next session of our sitting and we can agree that we are waiving off Covid- testing after all, the President will be sitting far, but it will look bad for you not to come for your own function. We will request SFC that our MPs don’t use papers we gave them iPads which they use day to day and we are also not comfortable with #Covid-19, we will talk to them, I mean, they are human beings,” Among said.
Her remarks followed concern raised by Joseph Ssewungu (Kalungu West) who wondered why MPs are still being forced to take Covid-tests whenever they are to meet President Museveni, and also have their iPads and phones confiscated, saying that is the reason why some MPs choose to stay away from such state functions.
“Why are we still going to such functions and we have to test for Covid-19, pluck my nose, I also want to know the results of the President before he tests me. Because how can we have one person in the country that everybody must be tested for Covid before going close to him. Denying us our gadgets, iPad, phones, I can’t be part of that,” Ssewungu remarked.
In March, the Government presented a Shs58.34 trillion national budget for the 2024/2025 financial year, intended to focus on ‘full monetisation of the Ugandan economy through agriculture, industrialisation, expanding and broadening services, digital transformation and market access’.
The Minister of State for Finance (General Duties), Henry Musasizi, who presented the budget also listed investments in wealth creation initiatives, investments in social sectors like education, health and water, as well as manufacturing, as the other priority areas.
The new budget estimates indicate a rise by Shs5.64 trillion compared to the 2023/2024 budget that amounted to Shs52.7 trillion.
The proposed budget was accompanied by five tax bills including the Excise Duty (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Stamp Duty (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Tax Procedures Code (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2024.
