Leaders of opposition Political Parties have denied receiving any money from government as it was announced on Tuesday by the minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu.
While speaking during the manifesto week at the Uganda Media Centre, Kamuntu said that political parties have received in total Shs36bn to help them prepare for the forthcoming elections.
He added that the contribution is evidence that government recognises political parties and is ready to support and promote political competition to have a vibrant political system in Uganda.
According to Kamuntu, the Shs36bn was shared by all political parties in respect to the number of Members of Parliament each party has, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) took the lion’s share since it has the largest number of MPs, Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) followed, Democratic Party (DP), Uganda Peoples’ Congress (UPC) and then Justice Forum.
However, leaders of opposition political parties have denied receiving any single coin on their parties’ bank accounts rather they have called it a trick by NRM government to make people hate political parties for eating their money in such a time when they are suffering because of Covid-19.
The FDC president Patrick Amuriat told this website that as FDC they have not received any penny from government.
“As of today we have not received any single money on our bank account I know and I saw it in the newspaper but I want to tell my fellow leaders and the public that this was a lie, first of all it shows that political parties get money on the sympathy of the NRM yet the law compelled any government in power to give out money to political parties to do their work.
“This is a move by the NRM to incite the population against political parties, that we are going with bags of money in the next election, and you know how catastrophic this could be. Thirdly, why did he announce at this time when people are hungry for food? At a time when people are asking for accountability for the Covid-19 money,” he said.
JEEMA’s president Asuman Basalirwa also refuted the claim by Kamuntu and said that it can bring a hostile backlash on political parties from the public that political parties are busy eating money in the time when societies (their voters) need money to buying food.
“Public needs to know that under political parties and organisation amendment act ,Ugandans who are the taxpayers are mandated to facilitate the activities of the political parties. I say this because some people will come out and say NRM has given political parties money, however, we JEEMA without fear or favour we have not received any money so I don’t know which political parties Minister Kamuntu was talking about,” said Basalirwa.
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