Parliament is scheduled to resume plenary sittings this Tuesday, but the House is likely to re-start business on an explosive, albeit diversionary note, after MPs who are yet to receive money for cars started demanding for them.
The squabble for car cash began immediately the Clerk to parliament, Jane Kibirge, sent out a memo on January 4, 2017, announcing the resumption date for parliament business after a two-week Christmas break.
In her memo, Kibirige said: “As you may recall, Parliament was adjourned for Christmas holiday… Notice is hereby given that Parliament will resume its normal sittings on Tuesday, January 10, 2017, starting at 10.00 a.m. You are all requested to turn up in big numbers.”
When the House re-convenes, the first issues they will handle include the amendment to the Local Government Act to facilitate the upcoming lower local administrative units (LC 1 and LC II) and women council elections. However, some of the legislators think parliament should first sort out the payment of their car allowances.
The Observer has learnt that some legislators, particularly the old MPs, are disgruntled over the delay in giving them the Shs 100 million car grant, paid to MPs when a new term of parliament commences.
Last October, the ministry of Finance released Shs25 billion to pay car allowances to 250 first-term MPs. The continuing MPs were told to wait for the next disbursement
The director of communications at parliament, Chris Obore, told the media then that unlike the previous parliaments where all MPs would receive the money at once, this time the first beneficiaries would be those without election petitions in court, while the continuing MPs who were in the 9th parliament would wait as well.
More than 100 MPs are fighting for their seats in the courts after their elections were challenged. This delay has not gone down well with some of the ‘old-timers’. One of them is Joseph Ssewungu Gonzaga, the Kalungu West MP. The Democratic Party member, who is serving his second term in office, is an angry man.
In an email response sent to the Clerk to Parliament, on January 5, 2017 at 5:10pm, a copy of which The Observer has seen, Ssewungu expressed his displeasure with parliament’s delayed payment of the Shs 100 million car grant.
“That’s [resumption of business] fine but where is our money for cars. I am tired of footing to parliament,” the legislator stated.
The email was copied to Dokolo Woman MP Cecilia Ogwal, who is the opposition representative on the Parliamentary Commission, all MPs and staff of Parliament.
An hour later, at 6:15pm, Bukomansimbi MP Deogratius Kiyingi responded to the Clerk’s communication in the same matter-of-fact tone as his DP compatriot.
“This is ok, we need to resume but think about how we shall transport ourselves from our areas,” Kiyingi lamented.
Some of the ‘old-timers’ contacted for comment were cagey about the issue. They, instead, told this reporter that they are waiting for communication from the clerk on when they will receive the money.
But Gilbert Olanya, the Kilak South MP, did not hide his unhappiness. While he was among the recipients of the Shs 103 million given to MPs in the 9th parliament for cars, Olanya said the car he purchased in 2011 is in such a poor mechanical condition that it can no longer be used to conduct parliamentary business.
“The vehicle which I bought five years ago is extremely weak and cannot take me from Kampala to Amuru without getting faulty. The fact that we have not received communication from the commissioners on when we shall get the money is unsettling,” he said by telephone.
Making a case for the old MPs, Olanya said many of them are disgruntled but quiet about it.
“We are appealing to parliament to work very hard and, by the end of this month, give us this money. We are not even sure about how much will be given since the shilling is struggling against the dollar. The Shs 100m is not enough to purchase a good car,” the legislator stated.
Ministry of Finance officials said the money was not appropriated in their budget for the 2016/2017 financial year. However, they had to do reallocations. Parliament’s medium term expenditure framework (MTEF) ceiling stands at Shs 318.9 billion for this financial year.
Obore told The Observer that parliament is still waiting for communication from the ministry of Finance on when it will release the next batch of money to the remaining MPs.
“As of now, the Clerk has nothing to give to the MPs,” he said. “We are waiting for a release from the ministry of Finance because the promise was that more money will be released soon.”
newseditor@observer.ug