THE INSANITY OF OUR BUDGET AND A REDEMPTIVE CURE

For this financial year 2022/2023, it was on June 14, 2022, that Matia Kasaija, the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, delivered the budget speech, themed, ‘Full monetization of Uganda’s economy through commercial agriculture, industrialization, expanding and broadening services, digital transformation and market access.’

The current budget whose reading was witnessed by millions of Ugandans via a plethora of media channels seems to leave a majority of them dissatisfied as has been the case in the previous years with issues raised concerning the supposedly unfair allocations to crucial sectors where the livelihood of many hinges upon.

For years, it has always been a recurring complaint by those working within the education sector especially the teachers in public academic institutions who have felt completely ignored despite the constant outcry. Among their concerns raised included inadequate pay versus the ever-increasing cost of living and of both services and products, and, at times, the lack thereof. This goes to show the extent of the government’s aloofness to the public welfare or just how tight the budget actually might be.

The other blatantly unimpressed citizens have been the health workers who, like their counterparts, complain mostly of poor working conditions in their respective workplaces and the extremely delayed salaries, which goes on to affect the quality of services delivered in the health centers around the country. This has been the major reason behind the distrust of public health services which creates a competitive advantage to the private healthcare service providers who also financially exploit Ugandans due to the government’s failure to regulate the markets. With endless boycotts amongst public sectors on the basis of low-pay, there has consequentially come up a hindrance in effective service delivery due to absentia thus jeopardizing the life of a Ugandan citizen in need of these services.

It still goes without saying that Uganda has not had a surplus budget before and in pursuing development has had to take multiple loans and grants from other nations, domestically and even the world bank to cover the budget. This has left us heavily indebted with this burden passed down to the citizens of Uganda who have had to suffer with heavy taxation in various forms. The unprioritized and exorbitant government expenditures have been reflected in the high expenditures by the citizens trying to access the basic needs and services whose costs are skyrocketing. It’s this public expenditure that has subsequently led to gradual increase of tax revenue over the years that led to the unending increase of prices of goods and services in the country.

In the current budget, it was said that one of the goals for this financial year is to regulate the prices of goods and services to the affordable rates to maintain household economic stability. This has been the demand by several citizens and experts who said that our unregulated economy left the already heavily taxed citizens to the arms of exploitive service and product providers. Recently, Ugandans were milked by fuel stations who hiked fuel prices and the case still goes on. If the government successfully regulates the markets, the hopes of the citizens are certainly raised, but the likelihood of the prices going down without a fight in a short period of time is quite low, and one can only hope for the best of peace while that is being worked out.

The situation is even more dire when the most basic knowledge workers such as health workers, teachers, and civil servants of the government are not being paid salaries on time or adequately, causing the quality of life for this majority of the professional population to decline, thereby causing a decline and stagnation in the overall economy. To improve livelihoods amongst households, the minimum wage bill shall need to be passed. Regulations should not only be on consumer markets but also with expenditures in public institutions. The government needs to focus on the key-priority sectors that have a more direct influence on people’s livelihoods. In Malawi, before their budget was drafted, the government decided to make nationwide consultations on the concerns of the citizens in order to pass a more inclusive and intentional budget. Not even the handouts to be given out during the Parish Development Model in this FY’s budget are an effective means to get the nation to middle income status. Worse still is the bureaucracy and corruption that infiltrates all these poverty alleviation schemes.

This means that there is a possibility in the allocation of resources to the various sectors to be done wisely, and not based on the speculation and mere interest of the men in government. This should put into consideration the guidance of God because the significance of our country’s motto must be realized. The citizens are weary of budgets which only increasingly favor sectors of the economy that are usually comprised of the already high earnings citizens. Increasing the budgets for such sectors by the year is the cause of the increasing unrest about the declining economy of the country as a whole.

The addition of absolutely irrelevant items on the budget such as anticorruption causes a resource deficit the more crucial sectors. In most cases, these additional institutions never yield any helpful results to the general citizen and need to be scrapped off.  Corruption, for example, is a character and a vice that cannot be completely rooted out using human means especially in this era where the ruling systems are all under public scrutiny for soliciting bribes and stealing public funds with nothing done about it, or if any, it quickly fades into thin air with no further investigations done.

Considering the Biblical perspective on planning, the Sons of Issachar, for example, were commended in the for their discernment of the times and seasons and their knowledge of what ought to be done by the nation of Israel when and how. In other words, the Sons of Issachar influenced Israel’s budgeting and planning to make it more targeted. It’s important to note that this foresight was of course not based on their own understanding, but on their knowledge of the things of God including a insight and foresight of the times and seasons.

As a matter of fact, in those days, national decisions whether crucial or apparently trivial were never made without the consultation of God. This is why all through Israel’s history, Kings needed prophets by their side. It was such that they would inquire to know the mind of God and how it would guide their steps as leaders set over His people. True as it was then, the only sure way for success to happen is through inquiring and heeding the voice and mind of God through the Prophets sent to us of Him. The beauty about biblical principles like that is that they stand the test of time to effect the intended result. This should, therefore, be no wonder that the Ugandan economy has continually been lagging behind the world economy under the control of men who run the nation based on their own understanding and personal opinions. If Museveni’s promises to deliver tangible development over the years were true, then we would have by his second term in power, otherwise, with a system that has failed with each test and trial, it becomes absurd that we should somehow believe his system will still deliver. What better allegory to depict insanity than that!

And it is not that we lack of a Prophet of God in our midst but we simply do not yet realize the significance of his presence to us. With more than 100 documented prophecies that were futuristic but eventually came to pass, we are simply living in denial as a nation when we dismiss Prophet Elvis Mbonye. For a man who foretold the food scarcity in 2017, the vaccination scandals in the ministry of health in 2018, the 2004 Japanese Tsunami, the Chinese recession in 2019, what better advantage to have than this! If we can come out of our boxes of pickiness and admit the gift of this prophet as one to highly esteem, then we can shift the nation in the direction of the tides of development we desire to see. Our acknowledgement and dependency on the office of the Prophet of God will seem insane in the eyes of the expert but better to rely on the wisdom of one who has a sure knowledge of the future than one who speculates it. The proof is in the pudding and there is more than proof enough to validate this Prophet all availed on his Youtube channel.

Concerning the budget, let us wait and see the realization of this year’s theme as the government with a record of failed projections promises to monetize sectors and improve our livelihoods or if we still hold the word of God as being true, then 2 Chronicles 20:20 that says, “Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.”

Written by: Belinda Tasha Busingye.

The writer is a member of the National Christian Students Association (NCSAYouth).