Members of Parliament have been given two options: a) to return the Shs20 million to the covid19 task forces, b) those who had spent it have to account for it.
This comes after the president questioned the method MPs deployed to allocate to themselves part of the emergency fund meant for covid19 fight.
In a letter dated May 12, the clerk to parliament Jane Kibirige says that following a meeting of the parliamentary commission on May 11, the commission guided that MPs who spent the money as of May 5, should submit accountability to the clerk to parliament.
Those who have not yet used the money as yet have been asked to take the money to the district task force through the chief administrative officer (CAO), while those MPs representing special interest groups should pay the money to the national COVID-19 task-force. All legislators are expected to submit accountability for the money not later than May 27.
The decision came after a letter by President Yoweri Museveni indicating that parliament undermined the executive by diverting Shs 10 billion from the supplementary budget which was initially looking at key sectors in the COVID-19 prevention. The clerk’s order is a twist in events after the speaker of parliament Rebecca Kadaga told the MPs to spend the money on anti-coronavirus activities within their constituents including fueling ambulances, purchasing relief food among others.
“First of all, this is unconstitutional… the president, through the ministers responsible, submits plan for expenditure to parliament and, then, parliament reshuffles the priorities and creates its own against the plan of the president,” President Museveni wrote the speaker of parliament.
Museveni, who in the letter showed feelings of being undermined by lawmakers, directed the auditor general to examine how MPs had turned into “purchasing officers of the state”.
MPs have been given up to May 27 to meet the above demands.
