The foreign travel budget of the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga and her Deputy, Jacob Oulanyah has unprecedentedly doubled to Shs 2,022,801,000. According to the jealously kept ministerial policy statement of Parliament exclusively accessed by ChimpReports, travelling inland and abroad consumes the biggest portion of the two House principal’s budget. The total budget for both […]
The foreign travel budget of the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga and her Deputy, Jacob Oulanyah has unprecedentedly doubled to Shs 2,022,801,000.
According to the jealously kept ministerial policy statement of Parliament exclusively accessed by ChimpReports, travelling inland and abroad consumes the biggest portion of the two House principal’s budget.
The total budget for both the office of the Speaker and her Deputy uniformly grew by Shs 1.4bn in the coming financial year 2019/2020.
Kadaga’s office budget for the concluding financial year is Shs 3.45bn and the planned 2019/2020 budget is 4.87bn registering a 41 percent increase.
The 2018/2019 Travel Abroad budget for the Speaker was Shs 654m and the planned 2019/2020 is Shs 1.1bn. It has increased by Shs 447m which is an equivalent of 68 percent increase.
The Speaker is expected to travel with a team of 6 people including four in the advance team and two (security and an assistant clerk) to be with her.
The four in the advance team including a protocol officer, press officer and assistant clerk(s) are supposed to travel two days before the principal and also to return two days after her departure.
The Speaker’s per diem while abroad is USD$ 990 and USD$ 320 for each of the staff accompanying her.
The development underscores the increased burden the taxpayer has to shoulder as state institutions continue to increase their expenditure.
The cost of administration continues to rise while key sectors such as health and education grapple with inadequate funding.
ChimpReports recently published the Ministerial Policy statement in which Parliament has planned to increase its budget by Shs 151bn (30.7%) from Shs 493bn in the concluding financial year 2018/2019 to Shs 645bn in the financial year 2019/2020.
Meanwhile, on top of the per diem, the Speaker’s advance team leader is given USD$ 1000 contingency fund while the one accompanying her arms his or herself with USD$ 2,000 in cash for eventualities.
Inland
Meanwhile, the Speaker’s inland travel budget increased by 35 percent from Shs 974m to Shs 1.3bn.
The allowance of the Speaker has however remained at Shs 64m and welfare and entertainment budget reduced from Shs 358m in 2018/2019 to Shs 265m for financial year 2019/2020.
The budget for Oulanya’s foreign trips has increased by 77 percent from Shs 519m in financial year 2018/2019 to Shs 920m in the coming financial year 2019/2020.
The inland travel budget of the Deputy Speaker increased by 50 percent from Shs 396m to Shs 594m.
The welfare and entertainment budget of the office of Deputy Speaker increased by 40 percent from Shs 108m to 152m.
The total budget of Oulanyah’s office has increased by 59 percent from Shs 2.3bn to Shs 3.7bn.
Source: Chimpreports
