Amos Lugoloobi, the minister of state for planning, has confirmed that the budget of the Parliamentary Commission has been revised upwards to meet the burial expenses for the late Jacob Oulanyah.
On March 29, we reported that government will spend Shs2.5bn on Oulanyah’s burial. (Read Story Here).
When Ugandans complained that the money government was planning to spend on Oulanyah’s burial was too much, a minister in Museveni’s cabinet told them to stop complaining. (Read Story Here).
This publication has learnt that government has since cut the figure to about Shs1.8bn.
It is this amount that Minister Lugoloobi presented before Parliament on March 29. He tabled a statement on Statutory revision of the Budget of Vote 104 (Parliamentary Commission) for FY 2021/22 by Shs1.8bn.
Lugoloobi explained that “following the budget path, Parliament did not have money within their portfolio to take on this expenditure [for the burial arrangements].”
The minister went on to say that the only way government would come in to support Parliament was “by increasing its budget,” which in simple terms means “adding on the budget of parliament to be able to handle this huge exercise.”
Parliament had allocated Shs834bn for the Parliamentary Commission but Shs147.5bn was hewed off in budget cuts to reduce wasteful expenditure and raise resources.