For the second day running, weather and climate-induced disasters continue to dominate parliamentary debates with legislators calling on government to prioritise funding for disaster management in the country.
The debate was triggered by a statement from the Minister of State, Office of the Prime Minister (Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees), Hon. Lillian Aber, on the country’s disaster situation during the plenary sitting on Wednesday, 25 September 2024.
In her statement, Aber said whereas there is goodwill from the ministry to mitigate the impact of disasters, most of the time, they are financially crippled to manage the overwhelming disasters swiftly.
“There are many requests for the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to release funds for disaster prevention, mitigation and response but there are no releases,” Aber said, adding that her ministry continues to face an uphill task to access contingency funds to manage disasters.
“We are committed to ensuring full implementation of the mandate of the ministry. However, our appeal is that Parliament prioritises funding for disaster preparedness and response. Also, facilitate the expedited access to contingency fund and funding of the Disaster Risk Management Plan,” she added.
Section 26 of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), 2015 as amended provides for a contingency fund equivalent to 0.5 percent of the appropriated annual budget to respond to natural disasters.
Recently, the 10-year Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management Plan was approved by Cabinet. However, Aber says its implementation has been impeded by financial shortages.
Matheniko County Member of Parliament, Hon. John Baptist Lokii, said it is disheartening to hear the Ministry of Disaster Preparedness and Refugees cannot access money from the Contingency Fund account to manage disasters, saying issues of disaster should be prioritised with no red tape.
“Issues of disaster should not be joked with because it concerns lives. Issues of disaster should not be subjected to bureaucracies; it must have the first call when it comes to allocation and utilisation of money,” John Baptist Lokii said.
He proposed that offices for disaster management be decentralised to different regions where disasters are common so that response time is reduced, a proposal which became popular in the House.
“I agree that disaster risk management plans should be decentralised because people affected are at the district level and the district committees are just watching with no funds,” Hon. Isaac Modoi (NRM, Lutseshe County) said.
Arua District Woman Representative, Hon. Lilian Paparu, said disaster management should not only be decentralised and districts fully financed to mitigate disasters.
“Local Governments collect revenue but when the Ministry of Finance is releasing the Budget Call Circular, they normally do not allocate areas where districts can put money to manage disasters. I want to suggest that going forward, when the ministry is issuing the Budget Call Circular, they should put a percentage where local governments can allocate their revenue to manage disasters,” she said.
Deputy Speaker, Thomas Tayebwa said the issues of disaster are majorly hindered by limited resources.
“The issue of government prioritising the disaster fund (Contingency Fund) is extremely critical and Attorney General, I think we shall need to tackle that issue because you see some of us are worried about having redundant clauses in the laws. If you have a law which says a certain percentage of the budget should be reserved for disaster management and we cannot implement it, then come we amend (the law) and remove it [that provision],” Taybewa said.
The Shadow Minister for Water and Environment, Hon. Christine Nakimwero (NUP, Kiboga District Woman Representative) said since 70 percent of the disasters are environment-related, it is imperative to involve the Ministry of Water and Environment in the disaster management committees.
She urged government to expedite the enactment of the Disaster Management Bill which has been before Cabinet for long.
The Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Joel Ssenyonyi, urged the ministry in charge of disaster to swiftly reach out to disaster-hit persons even with the meagre resources.
“I want to implore the minister that for you to be efficacy, have a seamless system in place so that when a disaster is reported to your ministry, there should be feedback and help that reaches the place with immediacy…send the little that is available then because it does not make sense to respond to a disaster three months later,” Ssenyonyi said.
