Uganda, March 11 -- About 50 ministries, departments and agencies have up to Shs163 billion in their budgets for discretionary spending, eliciting disapproval from civil society and a defence from government spokespeople.

Mr Xavier Ejoyi, the ActionAid International country director, and Mr Julius Mukunda, the executive director of the Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG), separately said the allocations are susceptible to abuse due to lack of a guiding law and broadly reflect poor budget planning.

Our analysis of the budget shows that State House, Parliament, Office of the President and the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) have the largest gifting votes in the 2023/2024 financial year.

State House alone has been assigned Shs1...