The Government has apologized for trying to get Parliamentary approval for the already spent Shs6bn cash bonanza using the name of non-teaching staffs.
The Ministry of Finance last week brought a budget supplementary schedule to Parliament asking for additional money at the tune of Shs6bn to stunningly pay non-teaching staffs in the Uganda Revenue Authority.
Members of Parliament rejected the request and instead asked the government to come clean and explain exactly what they want the money for.
On Wednesday during the handshake debate, the State Minister for Finance in charge of planning, David Bahati apologized on the floor of Parliament and stated that it was a mistake.
“We have realized there was a mistake in the supplementary request and let me take this opportunity on behalf of the ministry and the government to apologize for the mishap,” Bahati said on the floor of Parliament.
It should be remembered that the Shs6bn given to senior government officials in URA, Ministry of Finance and Office of the Attorney General was reallocated from the URA’s Tax Refund Account to URA expenditure.
The money had not been sanctioned by Parliament that solely appropriates money for public expenditure. According to the trail of handshake documents that ChimpReports obtained and published first, the minister of Finance, Matia Kasiaja and his Permanent Secretary Keith Muhakinizi agreed with Akol that the money would be sought from Parliament as supplementary later when the 42 had already benefitted.
MPs however rejected the apology by Bahati and they said it was a deliberate move to dupe the institution into approving money for a scandalous expenditure.
The Pader District Woman MP, C.D Otekayot said she didn’t expect a man of “high” caliber like Bahati to stand and tries to justify a measured error aimed at tricking Parliament.
“My brother Bahati, I didn’t expect this to come from you. A man like you shouldn’t have involved in this kind of deliberate plot to fool Parliament and the country,” she said.