A sharp disagreement has emerged among Parliament’s Budget Committee members after only 18 out of 59 MPs signed the main report recommending approval of the contentious Shs4.255 trillion supplementary budget.
Most of those endorsing the budget were from the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), with Maxwell Akora (Maruzi County) of the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) being the only Opposition MP to support the allocation.
In contrast, Ibrahim Ssemujju, the Kira Municipality solely authored the Minority Report, urging Parliament to reject the supplementary budget.
Ssemujju objected to several allocations, including Shs298 billion for Lubowa Hospital, Shs115 billion for Atiak Sugar Factory, Shs367 billion for State House, Shs67 billion to Nelson Tugemu for marketing Uganda’s coffee, and Shs725.42 billion for the Umeme buy-out.
Ssemujju’s report sparked a heated debate after he revealed that the additional Shs367 billion in classified expenditure for the State House would push its total budget to Shs1.053 trillion, amounting to “Shs2.8 billion spent daily, Shs120 million per hour, and Shs2 million per minute.”
His inclusion of images of President Yoweri Museveni and First Lady Janet Museveni in the report further unsettled many MPs, prompting calls to have his report expunged from Parliament’s Hansard.
Speaker Anita Among criticized Ssemujju’s approach, cautioning against personalizing the State House budget.
“It is just out of courtesy and respect for you to present your report without bringing in pictures. If it is an issue of State House, for instance, if you are allocating money to the Parliament of Uganda, are you allocating to Among?
You are allocating to everybody, all the MPs, the security, etc. Those are the people taking care of your life. I don’t know if you can ever finish a debate in this House without mentioning the names Museveni and Janet. Can’t you do that? That will even make your submission better,” remarked Among.
Stephen Kangwagye, the Bukanga County MP defended the budget, arguing that the allocation to State House serves a national function rather than benefiting the President personally.
“There is a difference between State House and President Museveni, a very big difference. Once we sit here as Parliament and allocate money to the State House, it is for its duties and functions.
That isn’t President Museveni. For instance, Ssemujju is a Member of Parliament, but he is facilitated to perform duties for the good of his Constituency.”
Minister of State for Sports, Peter Ogwang, dismissed Ssemujju’s concerns, stating, “First, it is constitutional that this country foots the bills for the Head of State. Is he to assume that the figures he has attributed here specifically go to the Head of State as Museveni personally?”
Chris Baryomunsi, Minister of ICT and National Guidance, called for parts of the Minority Report to be struck from the record, citing parliamentary decorum.
“While Ssemujju is presenting the Minority Report and has all the rights to do so, the Rules provide for decorum, and he shouldn’t use objectionable language.
I want to invite you (Speaker) to form an opinion that the words used in the debate are defamatory, indecent, unparliamentary, or undignified.
The Speaker shall order that such words be expunged from the official record of Parliament. There is a difference between State House as a public office and President Museveni.
But Ssemujju is trying to tell us that the money allocated to the State House goes to President Museveni as a person. I find this objectionable.”
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