The budget committee has approved a UGX 21 billion supplementary budget as compensation for the Church of Uganda land occupied by part of Entebbe Airport. This followed a call by the church, which claims it needs the money urgently to settle part of the 60 billion church house debt.

 The UGX 21.2 billion supplementary to settle Church of Uganda debt was earlier rejected when parliament approved the UGX 3.8 trillion supplementary.
 
The budget committee found out that money had been requested for by the Lands Ministry, yet government land compensations are supposed to be under the Uganda Land Commission vote.

 The Church of Uganda has since petitioned both the Finance Ministry and the Budget committee over this request. The funds are urgently needed to settle part of the UGX 60 billion debt they owe Equity Bank for the funded Church House project.
 
 Following Monday's sitting, the committee approved this request.
 
 “Church of Uganda has been requesting for this money for a long time. They also have other obligations with Equity bank, I am told, for the Church house. So, this money is urgently required for them to settle the outstanding loan,” the Deputy Chairperson of the Budget Committee Wamakuyu Mudimi told NTV Uganda.

“The supplementary budget for Church of Uganda formed part of the main supplementary. It was just deferred because the committee wanted some clarification and documentation from the Ministry of Finance, which it has provided. The committee has now deemed it necessary to clear,” Igara East MP Micheal Mawanda says.
 
 The 15-acre piece of land, for which the compensation was sought, is located between the Entebbe airport runway and the National Animal Genetic Resources Centre (NAGRC).
 
 Much as the Ministry of Finance singled out budget suppression, budget support and domestic borrowing as sources of funding for the entire supplementary, there are concerns from the Deputy Chairperson Wamukuyu Mudimi that government may fail to finance this supplementary.
 
 “It is not the first time. Many times we pass the supplementary but due to funding pressures, they do not fund it. We are not sure whether the entire request will be financed,” Mudimi says.
 
 Under Section 25(6) of the Public Finance Management Act, 2015 payment may approve a supplementary budget for unavoidable and unforeseeable expenditures.