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Speaking before the Committee on ICT and National Guidance, he lamented the neglect of communication and national guidance aspects by the Ministry of Finance, leaving crucial officers and commissioners without adequate resources to perform their duties.

Funding deficiencies at the Ministry of Information, Communication, Technology, and National Guidance are harming the ministry’s ability to offer Ugandans with the necessary services through ICT.

Dr Chris Bayromunsi, Minister for ICT, stated that ICT and National Guidance were born from a combination, but the Ministry of Finance has completely ignored the communications and national guidance aspects.

Dr. Baryomunsi was presenting before the Committee on ICT and National Guidance, which was led by Eng. Moses Magogo.

He voiced concern about the Ministry’s communication budget, which has not been reviewed in a long time, leaving officers and commissioners without means to do their jobs.

“Where we are going, we need to revitalize the communications function and national guidance bit because we need to inform the country about government functions and yet finance is not giving any money,” he went on to say.

“Officers and commissioners have no facilitation yet they are crucial both centrally and at the local government level to provide ICT services,” he went on to say.

Dr Aminah Zawedde, Permanent Secretary Ministry of ICT, emphasized the need for increased money, pointing out that the Ministry required sh13.5 billion for the development of local ICT services, but only sh11.3 billion was allocated.

She decried the Ministry’s glaring resource allocation gap, questioning how only a fraction of the funds required by the Ministry are available, thereby increasing the challenges of acquiring infrastructure such as computers for schools, digital skilling, taking services online, raising awareness about cybercrime, and creating job opportunities, among other things.

She stated that the next intervention to modernize the Parish Development Model (PDM) system, for which the ministry has requested sh5.5 billion but has only received sh4 billion, could stall the completion of critical PDM projects.

“If we do not automate these systems before project implementation, then we shall miss out on transparency and accountability yet this digitisation is key for successes of the model,” she went on to say.

She urged the committee to help the ministry close the current funding gap, which totals sh38.7 billion.

Noah Musa (Ind., Koboko North) urged the Ministry of Finance to explain why it was not allocating cash to ICT, as no prior reason had been provided.

Magogo, the Chairperson, advised the ICT ministry that in order to provide Ugandans with a full ICT solution, a holistic strategy to developing hardware, software, and people ware was required.