Uganda’s Parliament spent almost Shs 600m to fund the holiday of the Speaker Anita Among and her spouse Moses Magogo.
Leaked information shows that Parliament released Shs 499m to Among, who is the Bukedea Woman MP while Budiope East lawmaker, Magogo, received Shs 49m.
In Parliament’s records, the transactions dated January 29, 2024, are marked as ‘payment of per diem (for both Among and Magogo) to Nairobi – Kenya for official leave.’
Contacted for comment on Friday afternoon, Speaker Among told Media: “Travelling with my spouse is my entitlement.”
Reports indicate that the couple did not travel to Nairobi for the annual leave.
Sources said Among last travelled in August last year when she met Pope Francis in Rome, Italy.
Asked to respond to claims that she didn’t travel despite picking the large sums of money in per diem, Among observed: “Those are haters.”
The development comes at a time when the government is urging taxpayers to tighten their belts in the tough economic environment.
President Museveni last year ordered the government to stop foreign travel to avoid wastage of public funds.
While commissioning facilities at Uganda Petroleum Institute-Kigumba (UPIK) in March 2023, Museveni noted: “Tell the civil servants, the MPs and all politicians to stop travelling abroad. Money is wasted on external travel and here Kigumba is crying for money. This is really poor planning.”
The budget of the office of Speaker of Parliament office is Shs 13.1 billion this financial year (2024/25).
Speaker Among also has a Shs 2.4bn donations budget while her per diem is $4,000 per day.
She is entitled to paid official leave abroad with her spouse for 60 days in a year.
The taxpayer buys Among and her spouse business class tickets and pays them the per diem rate for those days
Her fuel budget is over Shs 800m per annum.
Under the budgetary allocation, Shs 1bn is set aside for adverts and public relations, sh70m is for workshops, sh495m for staff training, sh547.2m for welfare and entertainment, sh16.8m for ICT services, sh9.6m for property management, sh143.1m for bedding, clothes and footwear, sh1.34b for inland travel and sh5.3b for travel abroad.
