The deputy speaker Jacob Oulanyah is irked and ‘tired’ of presiding over a House that has contributed to the ever rising public debt accrued from government’s constant and regular borrowing.

Oulanyah on Monday told the African Organization of Public Accounts Committee (AFROPAC) conference how he was tired of presiding over parliament whose top business is borrowing and loan approvals.

“I am tired of this begging, I am tired of approving loans in every single seating of parliament. Yes, I have said it. I am tired,” Oulanyah said.

Oulanyah’s statements during the opening of a two-day Afropac conference shocked delegates that included African lawmakers on Public Accounts Committees (PAC), auditor generals, accountants general, donors and financial leaders among others at Speke Resort Munyonyo.

Oulanyah wondered why Uganda and some countries in Africa were not learning from other governments’ experiences to correct what has gone wrong so as to avoid opting for public debts.

“I don’t know what is happening in Tanzania or any other place but I know what is happening in Uganda. What is happening in Kenya, South Africa or wherever…can help improve on what is happening in Uganda. There is nothing wrong in Africa that cannot be corrected by what is right in Africa,” Oulanyah said.

Some speakers at the conference who spoke of how the public debts were threatening the sovereignty of borrowing countries provoked Oulanyah’s anguish expressions.

“Do you know how difficult [it is] to do something you don’t like to do, to do something you hate? Do you know how painful it is? Then your words become anyway, anyway. By the time your decisions are based on anyway, the morality of that decision is gone,” Oulanyah said.

“If I say some unkind things, it’s because I intended and I have no apologies. And if it can help, let it do so,” Oulanyah added, also explaining that he presides over the House that regularly borrows and approves loans because if he declined, programmes would not run.

Corruption

Afropac is an annual conference aimed at creating awareness on issues that concern the management of public resources in Sub-Saharan countries like management of the spiralling public debts, curbing illicit financial flows and fighting graft.

However, Oulanyah said meetings such as AFROPAC ought to stop since they are merely time wasting.

“We should stop these meetings because they have not helped. I don’t understand why we meet annually. Even accountability of the monies spent in this conference will have issues,” he said bluntly.

“One thing is clear, unless we make a formal declaration of never again, we are wasting time discussing corruption In fact corruption is here now [at the conference].”

Oulanyah called for change in policies to enhance accountability committees scrutiny of current auditor general’s reports than carrying out what he described as postmortem after a decade.

“You bring an auditor general’s report to parliament for oversight after 10 years. Ten years! By that time, the people who were accounting officers then, are now members of the accountability committees.” Oulanyah added. 

Earlier, different speakers called on the public to demand accountability from those responsible for collecting taxes, borrowing on behalf of citizens in addition to making decisions for the country.

“We have continued to observe major challenges in utilisation of borrowed funds such as low absorption capacities, inadequate prior planning for the utilisation of the borrowed funds etc,” assistant auditor general Keto Kayemba said.

Accountant general Lawrence Semakula said in Uganda, the total public debt including publicly guaranteed debt amounted to $10.7b billion as of the end of June 30, 2018 compared to $9.4 billion at the end of June 2016, an increase of 13.8%.

“Although the public debt to GDP ratio is still below the 50 per cent ratio, there is need to manage political and social pressures that may drive borrowing to finance development expending,” Semakula said.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Sub-Saharan Africa continues to experience a distress in public debts. By the end of 2017, the average public debt in Africa was at 57%.

In May this year, IMF indicated that Sub-Saharan African nations are at growing risk of debt distress because of heavy borrowing and gaping deficits, despite an overall uptick in economic growth.