Parliament has demanded that the Ministry of Agriculture revisit the terms of a US$204.8 million (approximately Shs717 billion) livestock loan, warning that too much of the money is tied up in consultancies, workshops, and vehicle purchases instead of direct support to farmers.
The directive came through John Bosco Ikojo, Chairperson of the National Economy Committee, while tabling his committee’s report on the government’s plan to borrow US$99.56 million from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to finance the Resilient Livestock Value Chain (RELIV) Project.
Ikojo revealed that legislators struggled to track exactly how the money would be spent.
“The Committee observed that the project cost is US$204.8 million (shs717.195Bn), however the cost breakdown and outputs described under the project loan were not costed to facilitate oversight of the unit cost of the various outputs that will be financed under the project,” he said.
According to the report, significant sums were earmarked for non-core items.
“Part of the IFAD Loan proceeds will be used to acquire Vehicles US$2.796 Million (shs 9,791,657,700), Consultancies US$4.464 Million (shs15,648,445,000), Training and Workshops US$4.111Million (shs 14,402,657,000). In addition, the loan should be renegotiated to move resources from consumptive items to acquisition of goods services and inputs, as well as equipment and materials.”
The committee also faulted the Ministry of Agriculture for withholding critical information.
“Whereas officials from the Ministry of Agriculture were requested to share details of the costed outputs under the project components to facilitate oversight of the unit costs, none of these requested documents had been availed by the time the aforementioned report was authored and tabled,” Ikojo lamented.
Parliamentarians were especially alarmed by the inflated budget for transport.
“A case in point is the project plans to acquire fifteen Vehicles which translates to a unit cost of a Vehicle at US$186.4 Thousand, equivalent to shs671Million,” Ikojo observed, describing the figures as far from justifiable.
Still, the committee acknowledged the urgency of finalizing the facility, which must be signed before September 12, 2025.
“The Committee recommends that given the constraint where Government needs to sign the loan by 12th September 2025, and the opportunity cost of Government of signing the loan in time is high, the MAAIF finds time to discuss the costed outputs of the project even after the IFAD financing is considered,” Ikojo advised.
With Parliament tightening its oversight on foreign borrowing, MPs made it clear they want resources redirected into productive investments that directly strengthen Uganda’s livestock industry rather than being drained by expensive administrative overheads.
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