One of the biggest criticisms against this government is excessive defence spending, especially when compared to other sectors of critical importance like agriculture, which is the backbone of Uganda’s economy. The total defence allocation in the 2016/17 budget was Shs1.6 trillion compared to agriculture’s Shs343 billion. However, in comparison with other East African countries, Uganda doesn’t measure up.
In a report released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on Tuesday, an organisation that monitors worldwide military spending, Uganda comes fourth out of the six East African countries.
Kenya takes top spot in East Africa having spent $908m in 2016. Tanzania comes second with $561m spent while South Sudan that was admitted into the East African Community last year rounds up the top three with $525m.
Uganda spent $398m (Shs1.1 trillion) in 2016 with Rwanda in fifth place spending $106m. Burundi came sixth with a $65m spend.
SIPRI didn’t provide a breakdown of the spend, though it stated that the figure was the wholesome, taking into account expenditure on acquiring weapons, research and development plus welfare issues including salaries and pensions.
Over the years, Uganda’s military spending has declined. In 2010, the country spent $641m while $661m was spent in 2011. There was a sharp decline in 2012, with only $384m spent. The figure has been increasing slightly till the $398m 2016 figure.
The African continent
Algeria was the biggest military spender on the continent with $10.65 billion allocated. That figure is more than 26 times Uganda’s annual expenditure.
North African countries generally spent more than other parts of the continent. Egypt was in
second place with $5.3 billion, while Morocco took fourth place with a $3.2 billion spend. Tunisia took eighth spot with $1 billion.
Economic giants also spend big on their military with South Africa spending $3.4 billion and taking third place while Angola took fifth place with a $3.2 billion spend and Nigeria sitting in seventh with $2 billion.
Kenya and Tanzania came in ninth and 10th respectively while Uganda sits in the 18th spot on the continent.
Super powers
The USA is the biggest military spender in the world. US military spending in 2016 was $611 billion—nearly three times as much as China’s military spending, which was the second highest at $215 billion. US military spending is larger than the next eight biggest military spenders combined.
Russia with $69.2 billion overtook Saudi Arabia ($63.7 billion) to be the world’s third highest military spender in 2016, due to a sudden decrease in Saudi military spending. At $55.5 billion, India took fifth place in the world rankings.
TOP 10 Military spenders
1. USA $611.2bn
2. China $215.7bn
3. Russia $69.2bn
4. Saudi Arabia $63.7bn
5.India $55.9bn
6. France $55.7bn
7. United Kingdom $48.3bn
8. Japan $46.1bn
9. Germany $41.1bn
10. South Korea $36.8bn