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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | High Court has ordered all Members of Parliament who benefited from the Shillings 10 billion allocated to them for COVID-19 activities to deposit it back with the Parliamentary Commission, district or Covid-19 National Task Force.
Justice Michael Elubu issued the orders on Wednesday afternoon while delivering his ruling on an application filed by the Ntungamo Municipality Member of Parliament, Gerald Karuhanga contesting the manner in which parliament allocated the said money.
It came after the Parliamentary Commission through its lawyers led by Sitinah Cherotich agreed with Karuhanga that the money be returned through the three channels listed as long as it is under public control.
Karuhanga through his lawyer, David Mpanga proposed that legislators who received the money and don’t represent any district return it to either the Parliamentary Commission or National Task Force, which will then channel it to district task forces.
Court also heard that the interim order issued by court on April 21st temporarily blocking the payment of the money to the legislators was overtaken by events since it was deposited on individual accounts of the legislators by April 17th 2020.
Mpanga stated that as long as the money first goes into public control, the merits of the main suit challenging the procedure leading to its allocation can be dealt with at a later stage. Shortly after the court directive, Karuhanga told journalists that he has now got some relief because the money will return in public control.
Background
Karuhanga petitioned court last week accusing Parliament of breaching its rules of procedure when it included the money in question into the report of the Budget Committee without the consent of the Committee members. The Shillings 10 billion is part of the Shillings 304 billion Supplementary Budget that was approved by parliament on April 4th, 2020 to facilitate the Covid-19 response.
Karuhanga alleged that Parliament deducted the 10 billion Shillings from the Health and Security budgets to distribute it among legislators to purportedly carryout Covid-19 sensitisation activities yet the procedure leading to the same was marred with procedural impropriety.
Each MP pocketed Shillings 20 million. However, in his application, Karuhanga argued that citizens were most likely to suffer from irreparable damage if Parliamentarians are not directed to return the money to public accounts for proper usage. Some legislators had already vowed to return the money once it is deposited on their accounts.
On Tuesday, the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga said they would forward the returned money to districts where the affected legislators hail from. Last night, President, Yoweri Museveni also described the actions of the MPs who received the money as morally reprehensible adding that they had entered a trap and the only way to get out of it was not to spend it.
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Hi there dear friends? the money some MPs took was not theirs,president said it was for the people where they come from each.it was for taskforce for the municipalities and constituencies they come from! those who took it for their benefits they should return it to the taskforce who are supposed to buy maize flour because people voted them some in villages are starving while they’re taking money for nothing.