It is election season, once again, and opportunists are already hoodwinking Ugandans that they have their best interests at heart, yet again. What with the unnecessary debae about Shs100million reportedly extended to Members of Parliament (MPs)!
In this matter, members of the NRM caucus deserve commendation for their honesty and fortitude. They are suffering ridicule and attacks from their opposition counterparts for no offence committed. There is no excess money to squander in this country and there is no honour in wastage. Every coin of any million is budgeted to serve a purpose. For NRM, wherever money is allocated, it is reflected in budgeting records and spent on things that can be seen or tracked. Where there is a query, it is followed through the established accountability channels to get to the bottom of the matter.
NRM has its sources of funding, including from Parliament under the Inter-Party Organisation for Dialogue (IPOD) arrangement and member contributions.
Other parties with representation in Parliament also get money, and they spend on their party activities as necessary. Why do the same parties make it their business to peep into NRM’s business? When do they tell the public how they spend their own money before accusing NRM for facilitating its MPs? This isn’t transparency and accountability advancement but political pretense intended to gain free marks from the public in a year just before general elections.
And, given what we know as insiders, the noise about the Shs100million is a guilt reflex to illicit billions received from external sources which were received to promote programmes that undermine national sovereignty and stability. This information will soon be “declassified” as President Yoweri Museveni hinted in his statement of April 11, 2025. Most thieves think that everyone is a thief like them; the promiscuous think that everyone is like them. That’s why the opposition is quick to allege secretive dealings on the NRM side when things are done in the open and in a regular way. It is a trick employed to play away the public that they are fighting corruption and exposing the ruling government. Yet in their own ranks, a lot is festering.
All MPs, from the NRM and opposition side, are entitled to the same benefits in terms of remuneration but the opposition behaves as if they work for no pay. On top of that, every party has its activities through which they facilitate their members.
NRM has the biggest reach and more activities that require facilitation, including consultation on different matters of interest which are discussed openly and freely in the respective forums before they are followed up and implemented. If Shs100million is given out, it doesn’t justify itself. There has to be agreed upon business to attend to.
And this demeaning insistence on President Museveni as if he just wakes up and dishes out money to anyone must stop! There is always a procedure to any expenditure by the state or the NRM party. Why does the opposition think that only they can deliberate issues and come up with valid, justifiable outcomes? This arrogance must cease!
To-date, I still wonder how the Shs5million extended to Movement MPs during the 7th Parliament in 2005 was weaved into a tale of bribery, believed by many and carried forward to this day. Did the Movement have to bribe its own MPs? Why not the opponents of the “third term” that was the political byword of the time? I have reason to conclude that the opposition bench of that time wanted a share of the funds without a justifiable cause.
That was money to facilitate consultations among voters on whether or not to remove term limits on the Presidency from the Constitution. Movement MPs went on to consult their people and eventually decided according to how they had been “directed” by their bosses-the voters. What evil was procured in that other than for those opposed to the amendment playing diversion from their own failure and fear to engage with the people on such a crucial constitutional matter? They claimed that if Museveni became President again Uganda would implode yet here we are, twenty years later, pushing boundaries of Patriotism, Socioeconomic Transformation, Democracy and Pan-Africanism.
There have been other times when consultation has been conducted as part of Parliamentary and party procedure on different matters, and there will be more such instances. Where logistics are required, NRM is organised, corporate and rich enough to afford modest facilitation for its teams.
The problem with the competing parties is that decisions are centralised. Party bosses sit at a table and decide for the members without consulting them. Many, if not all, do not conduct primaries to elect flagbearers.
Party cards are handed out to cronies of the bosses without due regard for the democratic integrity they so preach. In the absence of open processes and ground-based consultations and elections in their camp, when they see NRM reaching out to its people, their imagination goes wild. Ugandans should be wary of this class of political operators. They are running away and drawing attention from their own accountability gaps on top of fearing that soon they will be in the limelight for the wrong reasons.
The dirt thrown at NRM is an attempt to equalise scores, with formal queries unlikely. NRM’s internal affairs are its business, with different levels of discussion and decision-making. Whoever feels a strong desire to be part of this process should join the party or learn to be comfortable where they belong.
Ugandans should be spared from absurd allegations that qualify, in my view, as the building blocks of non-monetary political corruption which should be severely punished at the ballot. The opposition leaders should repent or else face an ignominious political future. Those who have eaten the white man’s money to do dirty deals should confess and seek amnesty from Ugandans before President Trump lifts the lid on them!
The author is the Special Presidential Assistant-Press & Mobilisation/Deputy Spokesperson
Email: faruk.kirunda@statehouse.go.ug
0776980486/0783990861
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