Mpuuga wants his office’s Shs 3.5bn budget increased, says it is not enough

The Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LoP) Mathias Mpuuga has said that the shs 3.5 billion budget that his office receives is not enough.

Mpuuga, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) representing Nyendo - Mukungwe said that the current budget limits the work they can do as the opposition in Parliament.

He made these remarks while outlining his achievements from his first year in office as LoP, in a press conference held Monday.

“There is a need for more researchers and more funding for our activities in order to be more effective in holding the government accountable,” Mpuuga said.

The LoP argued that the number of the opposition in Parliament has doubled to the current 109, yet the budget remains what it was 15 years ago.

The Nyendo MP also revealed that in the 2021/22 financial year that just ended, his office received only shs 2.6 billion instead of the stated shs 3.5 billion. He says that this makes their work difficult.

Parliament increased its budget from shs 831 billion in the financial year 2021/22 to shs 915 billion in the financial 2022/23.

Part of the increment included shs 193 billion in allowances for MPs.

Mpuuga, in his remarks, defended this increment.

“Many Parliamentary Committees failed to do their oversight roles because of budget cuts, I will give an example of Park Central which had shs 37 million…” Mpuuga said.

The LoP said that the public should instead direct their scrutiny on how the money is spent.

Mpuuga is also a member of the National Unity Platform (NUP) some of whose MPs, along with the rest of the house, have been accused of receiving shs 40m from parliament through unclear channels.

Reports said that the party is divided as MPs have refused to return the money as the party president directed.

Achievements

Mpuuga said that exposing the truth about the controversial Italian investor Enrica Pinetti of Vinci Coffee Company will go down as the highlight of his first year in office.

He said that exposing the Italian investor delivered dividends to Ugandans and he will forever move with his head held high because of this.