The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Parliament Commission is seeking an additional 103 billion Uganda shillings to conduct its committee oversight work and train staff.
Budget projections for Parliament for the financial year 2020/2021 stands at 567 billion compared to last financial year’s 497 billion shillings which indicates an increase of the sectors budget by 70 billion.
According to the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee chairperson, Jacob Oboth Oboth, the money is meant to ensure that MPs do their work adequately, specifically holding regional meetings, carry out consultation on every bill unlike in the past where MPs have failed to get to do consultations due to lack of funding.
According to the Parliamentary Commission’s Ministerial Policy statement, there are also shortfall for funds for training Parliament staff on legislature and enhancing their capacity.
In an Interview with Oboth Oboth, he says that mostly Parliament has been conducting its investigations and scrutiny with limited field work and visits which means they are not doing a good job in regards to the oversight role.
He says they need money for regional meetings involving the community and also follow up on the Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies who take on huge chunks of money.
Oboth Oboth says that apart from interacting with the agencies from Parliament and asking them to account, Parliament has failed to go on the ground.
According to Oboth Oboth, the money the commission seeks is not for salary enhancement or allowances for the MPs, but for their technical work and cardinal role of oversight visits.
Parliament has on several occasions failed to engage in field works and committee outreach visits due to limited funding. Last year for instance, the Parliament’s committee on Agriculture could not do regional dialogues on the contentious coffee bill that proposes the registration of all coffee farmers due to the funding gap. Most of the experts were hosted in the Parliament committee rooms.
Oboth Oboth attributes the problems of the budget shortfall to planning and budgeting on what items should supersede the other. He has also called for the expansion of the narrow budget base.
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