Parliament Approves UGX 8 Trillion Supplementary Budget Amidst Opposition Outcry Over Debt and Priorities
KAMPALA, December 3, 2025 – Parliament has approved a controversial UGX 8.104 trillion supplementary budget for the 2025/26 financial year, a move that has escalated the national budget to UGX 78.631 trillion and sparked fierce condemnation from the Opposition over increased borrowing and questionable expenditures.
The approval followed the presentation of three supplementary expenditure schedules by the Ministry of Finance, culminating in a plenary sitting on Tuesday. The decision authorizes the government to borrow an additional UGX 8 trillion from external and domestic commercial banks, on top of the UGX 32 trillion already approved for borrowing in the original budget.
Leading the dissent was Hon. Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda (Kira Municipality), the Shadow Minister for Finance, who authored a scathing minority report. He argued that the supplementaries unlawfully rewrite the national budget for non-emergency purposes, contravening the Public Finance Management Act.
“In all my 14 years in Parliament, I have never seen a supplementary request that casually rewrites the national budget the way this one does,” Ssemujju stated. He criticized a UGX 459 billion allocation under State House, which includes funds for “youth mobilization for the NRM presidential candidate,” arguing that political activities are being disguised as classified emergencies.
“The people whose taxes Parliament oversees do not enjoy supplementary lives as they walk long distances for water, give birth under torchlight… They deserve planning, not improvisation. They deserve fairness, not favouritism,” Ssemujju passionately defended his dissent. “We refuse to endorse waste, political convenience, or poor planning.”
Ssemujju also raised alarm over the debt implications, noting, “Financing these supplementary requests through borrowing will automatically raise the public debt. We are now set to return to commercial banks to borrow for all sorts of things.”
The Opposition criticized the process, with Ssemujju claiming he learned of the critical Budget Committee meeting via a phone call from its Chairperson, Hon. Patrick Isiagi (Kachumbala County), barely ten hours before the sitting.
In his report to Parliament, Isiagi detailed the funding sources for the UGX 8.104 trillion: UGX 4.278 trillion from external financing, UGX 3.770 trillion from domestic borrowing, with smaller portions from non-tax and local revenue.
The approval underscores a deepening clash over fiscal discipline and national priorities, as the government moves to fund its expanded budget through significant additional debt, while the Opposition charges that it neglects the pressing needs of ordinary citizens for political ends.
About The Author
