The Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG) has called for the amendment of the Climate Change Act, 2021 to include a penalty for sectors that do not integrate climate considerations in their plans.
According to CSBAG Executive Director, Julius Mukunda, the Climate Change Budget Compliance Assessment Report of 2024 indicates that the alignment of the 2024/2025 Budget Framework Paper to climate change integration averaged at 62 per cent, which he said was moderately satisfactory.
“Programmes such as natural resources, private sector development, sustainable urban development and manufacturing had unsatisfactory scores indicating a significant gap in compliance with climate change integration,” said Mukunda.
Mukunda made the proposals while presenting a CSBAG position paper on the 2025/2026 Budget Framework Paper before the Budget Committee on Wednesday, 22 January 2025.
Mukunda alluded to Section 13(7) of the Public Finance Management Act, 2015 and Section 30 of the National Climate Change Act 2021, which mandate assessment of the Budget Framework Paper compliance to climate change responsive budgeting.
“The Ministry of Water and Environment and the National Planning Authority must ensure that the assessment should go beyond climate finance allocated expenditure outturns to capture actual releases and real outcomes of change from climate expenditure,” Mukunda added.
Koboko North County MP, Hon. Noah Musa said that the entities which are supposed to drive the climate agenda are not meeting their targets.
“I therefore, want to request to you, Chair, that whenever we interact with these entities again, we need to take this matter seriously and put then to task so that compliance to climate budgeting is adhered to,” Musa said.
The low allocation to settle domestic arrears was a concern reiterated by CSBAG, with a recommendation to allocate Shs1 trillion in the next financial year to prioritise clearance of the arrears, which would reduce the payment period to 10 years.
The Auditor General’s findings indicate that domestic arrears have surged over the last six years from Shs3.33 trillion in 2019 to Shs13.814 trillion in 2024 which Mukunda noted represents 24 per cent of the proposed 2025/2026 budget.
He added that the Shs200 billion allocated in the proposed budget to clear domestic arrears is not sufficient to offer the much needed liquidity to the private sector.
“With this allocation, it will take government approximately 54 years to clear the current stock of domestic arrears, assuming no more arrears are acquired. This will deprive the private sector of job growth and will reduce tax revenue,” said Mukunda.
Hon. Dennis Nyangweso (Indep., Samia Bugwe Central County) noted that government introduced a commitment control system aimed at limiting financial commitments where there are no resources but that new arrears continue to arise.
“We are now in a dilemma. Companies that demand money from government are collapsing yet they have employees; they are servicing loans taken to supply to government, and others are in court. This is also limiting government’s tax collection and as Parliament we should find a way forward,” Nyangweso said.
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