The Ministry of Finance is looking into the spending of 71 government officials who recently traveled to New York for the 78th United Nations General Assembly. The officials, who came from the offices of Vice President Jessica Alupo and Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, reportedly spent over UGX 2 billion.
This news caused outrage among citizens who believed that the funds spent on allowances and travel expenses for the New York trip should have been used in more critical sectors of the economy.
In an interview with local press, Mr. Patrick Ocailap, the deputy secretary to the Treasury at the Ministry of Finance, expressed his concerns about the expenditures approved by the permanent secretaries. He stated that they are waiting for the officials to return and provide details about the funding sources.
“We are waiting for the return of the various officers to see how much they spent on this summit, which is internationally observed every year,” Mr. Ocailap said. “So, we want to see the expenditures from those sectors, look at the votes spent, and how much they spent on this.”
He added, “I know that there were some remaining funds in these offices for travel abroad, but we need to know exactly what was used for the trip, and we will make adjustments as we release the money for the next quarters.”
Mr. Ocailap also explained that if there was any wasteful spending beyond the quarterly budget release, the budgets of the concerned offices would be re-adjusted during the release of funds for other quarters within the financial year.
The Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Muwada Nkunyingi, announced that he plans to question the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about these expenses when the plenary sittings resume next week.
However, Mr. Ocailap pointed out that some expenditures, like duty allowances for foreign affairs officials conducting business abroad, are not considered wasteful, as they are part of the institution’s operations.
