By Stephen Kalema
The Commission of Inquiry into Land Matters in Uganda has not been paid in over four months, yet they have been spending heavily.
The announcement was made by Commission head, Justice Catherine Bamugereire on Monday while resuming it’s public hearings in Kampala.
“We are receiving calls for help from a lot of people but for the last four months, we have not received any provisions from the government at all for the operations of this probe,” said Bamugemereire.
“We aren’t part of the budget processing. We are an after thought which is a hard thing for the commission. Yet we would like to be every where but we have been resource stranded for the last four months.”
This year in July, the Commission suspended it’s public hearings due to inadequate funds.
Some of the things, the Commission spends money on include buying food for the witnesses as well as pay their transport.
Also the administrative costs of transporting the seven principle members of the Commission and investigators to conduct field analysis and hearings has taken its toll on the Commission’s budget.
In 2016, President Museveni appointed this commission to investigate the performance of the land law implementation, processes of land acquisition, management and land registrations. Following it’s time of expiry last November, President Museveni extended it period of actions. However, funds have sabotaged it efficiency.
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