The\nState Minister for Finance (Planning), Hon David Bahati, has revealed that\ngovernment does not have money to pay traders who supplied goods and services\nto the Government of South Sudan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bahati\nwho was appearing before a Select Committee of Parliament, on Wednesday, 27\nMarch 2019, said that the shs40 billion appropriated by Parliament for the\npayment of Ugandan traders is exhausted after paying 10 companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201dThere\nare many traders claiming payment for supplying goods to South Sudan. There are\nthose who supplied privately and those whose property was destroyed during the\nwar,\u201d Bahati said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bahati\nwas however quick to allay the legislators\u2019 fears saying that, \u201csince we are in\nthe budgeting period, we shall appropriate funds and traders will be paid in\nJuly\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\nassured Parliament that government is in the process of verifying a number of\ntraders who deserve compensation from the Government of South Sudan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA delegation from government is going to\nSouth Sudan in April with a list of traders verified by the Ministry of Trade.\nWe want South Sudan to confirm these traders and have this matter concluded, \u201d\nsaid Bahati<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked\nby the Masaka Municipality MP, Mathias Mpuuga, on how much government has\nallocated for compensation, Bahati said shs120 billion has been allocated in\nthe financial year 2019\/2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MPs\nwere however, displeased when Bahati denied Ministry of Finance\u2019s association\nwith the list of 23 traders approved for payment by Parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bahati said the list of companies in the\nParliament resolution were raised by members of Parliament during plenary not\nhis ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur\nrole as a ministry was to ensure that that the bi-lateral agreement is\nappropriately implemented, \u201d Bahati added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nchairperson of the committee, Hon Ann Maria Nankabirwa urged the Ministry of\nFinance to secure funds and pay traders saying, \u201ctraders lost families, some\nare hospitalized while others are struggling with bank loans\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\u201cIf you can secure other resources as you pursue the repayment of the loan from South Sudan, you will have saved the situation, \u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Parliament.go.ug<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The State Minister for Finance (Planning), Hon David Bahati, has revealed that government does not have money to pay traders who supplied goods and services to the Government of South Sudan. Bahati who was appearing before a Select Committee of Parliament, on Wednesday, 27 March 2019, said that the shs40 billion appropriated by Parliament for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27983,"featured_media":2328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\n