Members of Parliament have warned that it could take the government more than 48 years to clear Uganda’s domestic arrears if the current rate of payment continues.
This was revealed during a meeting between Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and officials from the Ministry of Finance while reviewing the December 2025 Auditor General’s report, which indicated that domestic arrears stand at about Shs8.4 trillion.
The concern was raised by Basil Bataringaya, MP for Kashari North, after the Secretary to the Treasury Ramathan Ggoobi informed the committee that the government had set aside Shs200 billion in the 2026/27 national budget to clear the arrears.
Bataringaya said the allocation was too small compared to the size of the outstanding arrears.
“I have computed, it is 48 years. For the Shs9.6 trillion, Shs200 billion per year is 48 years. But remember the domestic arrears keep growing, so they will not remain static,” Bataringaya told the committee.
He added that the slow pace of payment means the government may struggle to clear the debt while new arrears continue to accumulate.
The discussion followed a question from Gorreth Namugga, the PAC Vice Chairperson, who asked the Ministry of Finance to explain government’s commitment to clearing debts owed to private companies and individuals who supplied goods and services to government but remain unpaid.
Namugga expressed concern that the continued delay in payment is hurting the private sector.
“If you look at the trend for the last five years, Shs200 billion has been the usual allocation. Yet the validated arrears stand between shs8 trillion and shs9 trillion. With a budget of Shs200 billion, which miracle are you going to make?” Namugga asked.
She warned that failure to clear the arrears is putting serious pressure on businesses that depend on government payments.
In response, Ramathan Ggoobi said government is working to reduce the arrears but explained that some of the reported claims lack evidence.
“I requested the Auditor General to verify these arrears and we are finalising the results. One outcome is that we are saving a substantial amount of money because some claims had no concrete evidence that goods or services were supplied to government,” Ggoobi said.
He added that government plans to begin paying verified claims starting next quarter.
“The shs200 billion is the money available in the base budget. If we get additional resources, this area remains a priority. But we cannot pay money we do not have,” he said.
Ggoobi also clarified that the Shs9.6 trillion figure mentioned in the committee was inaccurate, noting that a new verified figure from the Auditor General will soon be announced.
During the same meeting, Ggoobi also revealed that Uganda earned about US$14.4 billion (approximately Shs53.6 trillion) in exports in 2025, the highest export earnings recorded by the country so far.
