By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
KAMPALA
President Museveni has assented to the Appropriation Bill, 2024 into law, State House reported.
“The President of the Republic of Uganda, H.E. @KagutaMuseveni has signed the Appropriation Bill, 2024 (reconsidered) into law. The President assented to the bill today, Thursday, 4th July 2024,” read a post on Government of Uganda X handle.
The signing comes barely two days after parliament reconsidered Museveni’s directive to reinstate Shs750b that was allegedly reallocated by parliament in the FY 2024/25 budget. The president said the reallocation of the money was a deliberate move by legislators to sabotage government priorities in the budget.
The new law, according to reports approves the expenditure of Shs72.136 trillion for the FY 2024/25 which commenced on July 1.
“The signed law indicates the amount of money which will be spent by each government ministry, department and agency and local government,” report indicated.
The law also authorized the withdrawal of funds from the consolidated fund by eligible government authorities.
It should be recalled that President Museveni previously declined to assent to the bill and returned it to parliament noting that MPs interfered with the constitutional mandate of the President in budgeting for the country by reallocating money for core sectors of the economy.
“In the last four financial years, the MPs have reallocated a total of Shs 3.7 trillion. This is real sabotage. When we reconstructed Kampala-Masaka road, we used Shs 440 Billion. Therefore diverting 3.7 Trillion in four years is equivalent to aborting 9 big roads of Kampala-Masaka,” Museveni said ein a June 22 letter to the speaker of parliament. He demanded that parliament reinstates Shs750b which they did during a plenary on July 2.
