The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Political parties have asked Parliament to compel the government to pay 10 billion Shillings support for political activities as many of them are currently struggling to operate.
The funding, currently at 10 billion Shillings distributed to the Political parties under the Inter-Party Organization for Dialogue (IPOD) depending on their representation in Parliament is enshrined in the Political Parties and Organizations (Amendment) Act. It is supposed to be contributed annually by the government towards the activities of political parties to facilitate their day-to-day activities. Currently, the parties entitled to this money include FDC, DP, NRM, UPC and JEEMA.
As it stands now, NRM gets the biggest chunk of this funding, followed by the FDC, DPC, UPC and JEEMA gets the least. However, the political parties say they have not got this money now for two years despite it having been appropriated by Parliament.
Although Government recently said that a shift in priorities like fighting the COVID-19 Pandemic had caused the delay in giving funds to the political parties, IPOD through its representation in Parliament has asked Parliament to compel Government to pay this money.
Rising on a matter of national importance in Parliament on Wednesday afternoon, Asuman Basalirwa, the chairperson of IPOD and President of Justice Forum (JEEMA) said that he has been approached by the top political parties who have not received funding for the last two years and yet the political activities are now intense.
He says in the law, the funds are meant to facilitate political parties in their electoral activities, but to date, Government has not explained why the money has not come.
The Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga has asked the Ministry of Finance to answer why this money has not been provided to date.
While handing over 68,000 bicycles to National Resistance Movement (NRM0 chairpersons at the village level, President Museveni said the funding would be increased to 30 billion shillings from the current 10 billion.
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