Buikwe South MP, Dr. Michael Lulume Bayiga questioned the officials about the expenditure of the 80 billion Shillings appropriated by parliament in the current financial year 2021/2022 towards procurement of Covid-19 vaccines.
The Parliament’s
Health Committee is demanding accountability for the Covid-19 vaccine funds
allocated to the National Medical Stores-NMS in the last two financial years.
NMS officials led by Apollo Newton Mwesigye, the NMS Board Secretary, Paul
Okware the Chief Operations Officer, and Lillian Audo, on Tuesday appeared
before the committee to present the entity’s policy statement for the coming
financial year 2022/2023.
Buikwe South MP, Dr. Michael Lulume Bayiga questioned the officials about
the expenditure of the 80 billion Shillings appropriated by parliament in the
current financial year 2021/2022 towards procurement of Covid-19 vaccines.
Bayiga also demanded accountability for another 18.5 Billion Shillings
Supplementary budget that was appropriated in the financial year 2019/2020
under NMS towards the response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
//Cue in: “actually the previous…
Cue out:… previously
approved budget.”//
But Okware assured MPs that the money is captured under the entity’s non-wage
budget of 572 billion Shillings and that it was spent.
“Within the last 6 months, we have received in excess of 60 billion worth of
vaccine and there is more to come,” said Okware in part.
Okware
emphasized that both budgets appropriated in the financial year 2019/2020 and
2021/2022 have been received by NMS and spent accordingly.
//Cue in: “I think for…
Cue out:…receiving the vaccines.”//
Dr. Charles Ayume, the Health Committee Chairperson directed that NMS urgently provides
MPs with details of how funds related to Covid-19 vaccines have been spent.
//Cue in: “NMS take this…
Cue out:…the next interaction.”//
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance official attached to the committee, Nimrod
Agasha told MPs that the NMS budget for the coming financial year 2022/2023 has
been cut by 80 billion Shillings since the government is expecting a grant from the
World Bank of US Dollars 137 million which will be used for procurement of
Covid-19 vaccines.
In this financial year 2021/2022, parliament appropriated 600 Million Shillings and the
reduction means that the entity will in the next financial year 2022/2023
receive a total budget of 520 billion Shillings.
//Cue in: “it is a…
Cue out:…parliament.”//
NMS is established under the National Medical
Stores Act (Cap 207) of 1993 as an autonomous body responsible for procurement,
storage, and distribution of essential medicines and medical supplies, primarily
to government health facilities.
