Uganda government to pay former MPs says Museveni

Kampala. President Museveni yesterday announced that his government will begin providing stipends for former Members of Parliament, but gave no specifics or timeline.

The Ministry of Finance last evening said that whereas stakeholders would explore how such arrangement works, the matter has never before been officially discussed.

“If it is kind of a retirement arrangement, one of the [things] that can be explored is for [the] government to contribute towards the pension scheme. There are so many modalities that can be explored,” said Mr Jim Mugunga, the ministry spokesman.

Using the Bible analogy of Jesus calming the tempest over the waters, which relieved frantic disciplines, Mr Museveni told a gathering of current and former lawmakers that “there is no reason to panic” over the hardships they encounter upon losing their jobs and perks.

“On the issue of welfare of former MPs, we have been thinking about how to solve this issue. Now that we have the contacts, we are going to sit down and discuss,” the President said at Kampala Serena Hotel where Uganda’s MPs since Independence in 1962 were awarded Golden Jubilee medals.

He added: “How can we fail to look after one thousand people who have made a special contribution to Uganda? How many civil servants are we looking after? We have been looking at how to solve this issue and it is solvable.”

Uganda has about 300,000 civil servants who complain of that they are underpaid while the teachers, who constitute the biggest number, have regularly had to strike over delayed payment or government’s unfulfilled pay increase.

There is already a growing public outcry over what critics perceive as increasingly profligate and parasitic lawmakers, after they, among other things, sought higher amounts for new cars. It is unclear how the proposal for additional spending on them would be received, weeks after demonstrators dropped at Parliament building pigs painted in the official colour of the ruling and opposition parties, in protest over the growing expenditure on the legislature.

Ten years ago, Parliament began a pension scheme with Shs5 million monthly deductions from members to clothe them against financial adversity when voted out.

Yesterday’s ceremony was held under overcast skies, with the five-star Serena Hotel hotel in the city centre ringed off by the military which blocked part of Ternan Avenue and diverted motorised traffic to access roads in the leafy Nakasero suburb.

(NMG)