New
Fuel card to Reduce Government Expenditure on vehicles
By
Adellah Agaba
Uganda
Debt Network would like to applaud and welcome the move by Ministry of Finance
Planning and Economic Development for taking heed to the uproar by citizens and
tax payers on Government extravagant expenditure especially on Government
Vehicles fueling and service. This was captured in the partnership of Ministry
of Finance and United Bank of Africa (UBA) to issue out a fuel card that will
manage fuel consumption by Government Vehicles in a move to reduce too much
expenditure and as part of finance reforms in the Ministry as stated by state
Minister for Investment Gabriel Ajedra.
In
2013, Uganda Debt Network in partnership with the Red Pepper ran a six months
campaign on the “Misuse of Government Vehicles” highlighting Government’s high
expenditure on a big fleet of vehicles which in time is yielding impact.
The government
policy instrument on vehicles provides for the standardization of vehicles of
government officials. However, this policy instrument continues to suffer abuse
by the same officials who are obligated to keep government property in good
condition. The fuel guzzling, costly vehicles end up making their maintenance
costly to the disadvantage of tax payers in the country who still receive poor
service delivery at the end of the day.
With the
ever-increasing fleet of government vehicles, maintenance costs equally
escalate in terms of garage costs, fuel, oils and lubricants. This then bears
an implication on Government expenditure and consequently hikes our already
huge domestic debt. When all is said and done, Uganda finds herself locked in
this vicious cycle of debt and debt repayment. Fiscal
indiscipline is one of the main causes of debt arrears as indicated in the
Auditor General’s Report of 2010.
Government’s unbalanced expenditure has led to
increased instances of hefty allocations to public administration in the annual
budgets and more stringent allocations to service delivery say in hospitals,
where the common man benefits and this questions government capacity in setting
its priorities. As per the Public Service Standing Orders, in addition to the
maintenance of inventories for vehicles, plant and other equipment; log books
or operating records must be maintained by recording a vehicle’s history,
performance, servicing, overheads, and repairs in sufficient details for
periodic assessments to be made of its performance, compared to its cost of
upkeep. A public officer shall be held financially responsible for losses
incurred on Government property which are due to his or her neglect or fault.
By end
of Financial Year 2005/06 there were at least 8,090
Government vehicles on Uganda’s roads, burning through Ug Shs 29 billion on
fuel and another Ug Shs 29 billion on fleet maintenance. The size of fleet and
cost of maintenance was even higher since this cost excludes Government
motorcycles at the national and Local Government levels. Government also spent
Ug Shs 18 billion on purchase of new vehicles, bringing the aggregate
expenditure to 76 billion in the same FY. In Financial Year 2006/07, the fuel
bill was approximately Ug Shs 24 billion while that for vehicle maintenance
stood at t Ug Shs 68 billion; bringing total expenditure to Ug Shs 92 billion.
By Financial Year 2009/10, Government expenditure on vehicle maintenance alone
had escalated to over Ug Shs 100 billion per the Auditor General’s report June
2010.
Since the figures have been showing
a drastically increasing trend, Uganda Debt Network welcomes the move by
Ministry of Finance to regulate Government spending on fuel which is a start of
what most people would call patriotism. In respect to the
1995 Constitution of Uganda; Article
17 (d) and (i) which provides for protection and preservation as well as
combating corruption and misuse or wastage of public property, it’s upon our
public servants to take heed and save the tax payers’ money by spending
responsibly.
The writer works with Uganda Debt
Network
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