By Spy Uganda
The Parliament of Uganda has deposited Shs20m on the accounts of all Members of Parliament, which is part of the Shs10Bn that was passed last week in the supplementary budget for the fight against Coronavirus (COVID-19), despite a court injunction barring the same.
This website revealed on Tuesday that the Civil Division of High Court had issued an injunction staying the release of Shs10BN to MPs until 29th April, 2020, when the application challenging the release of funds , which was filed by MPs Gerald Karuhanga and Jonathan Odur will be heard.
However, we have since established that by the time Karuhanga and Odur filed their petition money had already been wired to their accounts and those of other MPs.
The move came after a heated cabinet meeting which sat at State House Entebbe on Monday, during which President Yoweri Museveni managed to convince several Ministers who were lobbying him to block the Shs10Bn allocated to MPs to join the fight against COVID-19 that the legislators needed the money.
Our Spy at State House reveal that President Museveni reasoned that unlike the thieves in Kampala who amass personal wealth, MPs will share the Shs20m with their voters, which is a good thing. He reportedly said that once the voters learn that MPs have money, they will claim for a share of it.
The Spy also intimated that senior ministers including Premier Dr Ruhakana Rugunda and Sam Kutesa, Foreign Affairs, who initially wanted the money returned to the treasury, were later convinced and agreed to release the money to the MPs.
Quashing Karuhanga’s Petition
Following cabinet approval, the proponents of the idea to have the money released to MPs faced another huddle -An application for an injunction to block the release filed in the High Court by Hon. Gerald Karuhanga and Hon. Jonathan Odur.
Since it was a race against time, the Government Chief Whip Hon. Ruth Nankabirwa and the Parliamentary Commission moved and ensured that money is disbursed on the accounts of all MPs and now only time will tell who will either accept or reject the money.
