By Spy Uganda
Kampala: Parliament has released Shs 200m to each of the 529 Members of Parliament and 26 ex-officials (Ministers who are not MPs) to buy themselves vehicles as one of the privileges to country’s legislators.
According to Parliament Spokesperson, Chris Obore, the Speaker, Deputy Speaker and Commissioners will also receive brand new vehicles.
The above comes after government decided to offer shillings 200 million from the initially requested 321 million per MP by the Parliamentary Commission as per the financial year 2021/2022 Budget Framework Paper.
Out of the 3.48 trillion additional budget, government allocated more 133.6 billion to the Parliamentary Commission as funding for vehicles for MPs (110 billion), funding for office space rent (13.61 billion), and funding for the Parliamentary Institute (10 billion).
The additional allocation to the Parliamentary Commission also saw an increase in the Institution’s budget from 698.3 billion to 831.9 billion.
In the outgoing 10th parliament, government spent nearly Shs 110bn on motor vehicle funds awarded to MPs. The money was released in two instalments with MPs getting Shs 100m each in October 2016 following a release of Shs 64.5bn, MPs got an additional Shs 100m each following release of Shs 45.8billion in June 2017.
There are no costs involved in this implementing the MPs’ car ‘programme’ as the money is simply wired to MPs to spend as each chooses.
When the (new) MPs are undergoing orientation, car dealers usually swamp the premises offering ‘bargain’ deals to the members, but there are no conditions, standards or guidelines for the MPs to follow and one can even choose not to buy a car. Some in the 9th and 10th parliament used the money to buy ambulances for their constituencies.
Meanwhile, its worth noting that Yoweri Museveni, during his victory speech after he was announced the winner of the 2021 presidential elections by the Electoral Commission, warned MPs against extravagance and wasteful expenditure of MPs, saying he will not allow them to increase their allowances and emoluments as they please.
